Tales of Eternia 2
by Nemorian
Summary: Eternia was saved, and the worlds of Inferia and Celestia adapted to the changes presented to them. Over twenty years later, with countless problems cropping up again and the declining attitudes of each planet, war begins to look inevitable.
1. Mintche

Note: There's no Tales of Eternia setion for some sad reason... and since the first ToE was called Tales of Destiny 2 for the Playstation, I figured it'd be okay here. Huzzah for loopholes! And endless thanks to my friend Schimmel, who helped me with a lot of the Tales-related problems I had... and will continue to have until this story comes to a close.

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"R...n..." A faint voice echoed in his mind, it was having a difficult time understanding it though. "An... ri...an..." It was familiar, was it calling his name? He tried to speak, but no words came. All he could do was listen and try to understand. "Rian..." The voice steadily got louder, clearer.

"RIAN! Wake the hell up!" It screamed.

Nemo jumped, falling off his chair and onto the ground. "Wh- what is it!?" he asked in a panic.

"Damn it! How many times am I going to have to yell at you for falling asleep in class!? You came to Mintche University to learn, didn't you!? If you wanted a place to sleep there's a perfectly good inn down the road!"

A man in a long white and gold robe was standing over him, a fierce expression on his face. "Oh... Professor Trivil." Nemo mumbled, getting up and yawning. "Class over already?"

"It is for you, out!" he yelled, pulling Nemo to the door and pushing him out of the classroom.

"Geez... what a grouch." Nemo muttered as the door slammed shut. He stretched and wandered down the nearby staircase, making his way to the exit.

The street was packed with other students, each wearing a robe similar to Professor Trivil's, but most of them were white and teal instead of gold. Nemo looked down at the one he was wearing, it was white and dark green, frayed slightly at the bottom. He wiped some of the dirt off it that probably came from the classroom floor and walked into the cafeteria building.

He glanced around at all the students here as well. There was no end to the uniforms, if it wasn't for the varying hairstyles there would be no way to tell one student from the other. After checking to see if any of the many heads of hair looked familiar, he got something to eat and walked to one of the tables where he knew at least one of them.

"Hey Tristan." Nemo said as he sat down.

A student with rather spiky brown hair looked over at me. "Nemo! How ya doing? You're out of class early again I see, Professor Donovan get annoyed by your snoring again?" he laughed.

"I don't blame him." A student with short, neatly combed light green hair said. "You should put more effort into your studies."

"Oh come on Charlie, you know as well as I do how boring Professor Donovan's classes are." A girl with a long red ponytail said.

"My name is Charles... not 'Charlie', Fae." he said crossly.

"Oh, excuse me, _Charles._" Fae imitated his rather snobby tone fairly well, but Charles clearly wasn't amused unlike Nemo and Tristan, who were too busy laughing to see his expression.

"Hmph..." Charles grumbled, getting up and leaving.

"What's with that guy? No sense of humor at all." Tristan mumbled.

"Or any other trace of a normal personality." Nemo added.

"Ignore him, that's the easiest thing to do." Fae said, picking up her glass of water and taking a drink.

"W...WHOA!" someone cried, followed shortly by a crash.

"You did it again, didn't you Nemo?" Tristan asked, glancing in the direction it came from.

"That's against the university rules you know..." Fae muttered.

"Like I care. Besides, if you guys cared you'd have reported me a long time ago." Nemo grinned.

"Well, it would be too dull around here otherwise." Tristan chuckled.

A tray dropped onto the table where Charles had been sitting, and the three of them looked over at the new arrival. A student with short, puffy blonde hair was standing there, bits of food splattered onto the front of his robe. "How are you supposed to walk in these things?!" he complained, sitting down next to Tristan.

"Good afternoon to you too Schimmel." Tristan chuckled.

"You really need to stop tripping like that, I gave you one of my spare robes so you could blend in here... all you're doing is attracting attention to yourself." Nemo mumbled.

"I can't help it... this thing is too long for me." Schimmel said.

"Not my fault you're short."

Schimmel opened his mouth to speak, but was quickly shushed by Fae. He glanced at her, then noticed what was wrong. Someone had approached their table, looking a bit nervous. A rather short boy with unkempt blonde hair was staring at us, he seemed to be trying to work up the courage to speak.

"What is it?" Tristan asked, not in the mood to wait.

"Ah... I... I was just wondering if I could sit here... everywhere else is too crowded." he stuttered.

The four of them looked at each other, as if they were discussing it silently. The boy took a step back nervously as they did. A moment later they turned back to him.

"Of course you can join us." Fae said brightly, elbowing Nemo in the ribs so he'd scoot down and give the boy some room.

"Uh... thanks..." He muttered, sitting down by Fae and looking nervously across the table at Tristan. "I'm James... I just joined the university... nice to meet you all."

"Don't look so scared, we're not that bad." Tristan laughed. "I'm Tristan Sykes, this is Schimmel, Nemo and the lovely lady is Fae."

"Flattery will get you nowhere Tristan." Fae grinned, then turned to James. "Now that I think about it... I remember seeing you at the ceremony held for new arrivals. For a second I thought you were this klutz." she gestured to Schimmel.

"Really? I don't remember seeing him at the ceremony..." Nemo said, leaning over to get a better look at James.

"That's because you slept through it like one of Donovan's classes." Tristan laughed.

"Donovan... you mean Professor Donovan Trivil?" James asked.

"Yeah, that's the guy."

"Is he... a bad teacher?"

"Not really, he just has one of those voices that'll put you to sleep easily." Nemo said.

"Now that you mention it... I always did seem to get tired faster when he came to visit..." James muttered.

"Visit?" Schimmel wondered.

"Professor Donovan is my uncle."

Nemo choked on what he was eating. "You can't be serious!" he coughed.

"You poor kid..." Tristan muttered, shaking his head.

"Would both of you shut up?" Fae said shortly. "Maybe he likes his uncle, did you even consider that?"

"I do like him, but they're right. He is pretty boring." James mumbled.

"So now we know two people from families with famous people in them. Donovan's pretty well known around here." Schimmel said, taking a bite of food.

"Three if you count that snob Charles' brother. He's a head researcher or something at Inferia City isn't he?" Tristan asked.

"He doesn't count." Nemo said.

"So... who's the other one?" James inquired.

"They're probably talking about me again." Fae sighed.

"Why-"

James was cut off as a female student with long pink hair ran up to the table, panting. "Ne... ba... Don..." she muttered breathlessly.

"Geez Carol... what's the rush?" Tristan asked.

"We overheard something we probably weren't supposed to." Another student said, walking up beside Carol. He was fairly tall, with short blue hair. "She came running to tell you, but it's obvious athletics isn't her strong point."

"Shut... up... Ray..." Carol panted.

"Tell who what?" Fae asked.

"Nemo... Donovan..."

"Carol, maybe I should tell him. You should sit down..." Ray said.

Carol nodded, bumping into Tristan as she sat down next to him.

"We heard Donovan talking to Porter and Ristow. He was talking about you, Nemo." Ray said seriously.

"He was complaining about my snoring again wasn't he?" Nemo chuckled, taking a drink.

"Well, yes... but after that he was talking to them about an idea he had. They seemed to like it, but after he left he grinned and muttered to himself. I couldn't tell what exactly, but it was clear he was happy and it involved getting rid of you."

"You must have heard wrong... Donovan may not like me, and the feeling is mutual, but I'm on good terms with Professors Porter and Ristow. Besides, other than my tendency to sleep through his class, I'm a decent student." Nemo said, not really thinking much of it.

"You can't be right... I can't believe Uncle Donovan would do anything mean..." James muttered.

"Hmm...? Who are you?" Ray asked, just noticing James. "And when you say 'uncle' do you mean..."

"That's James. He's okay, don't worry about it." Tristan interrupted.

Ray shrugged, "If you say so. I have a class to get to, come on Carol."

"Right..." Carol mumbled, getting up and walking off with Ray.

"So what do you think Donovan has planned?" Tristan wondered.

"Who cares... I doubt it's anything too bad." Nemo said, still not taking it seriously.

"How can you not be worried?" Fae asked.

"I'm just not. I don't see why you are."

"You're hopeless..."

After finishing lunch, the five of them made their way back to the main building. When they arrived, a large group of students were gathered around the entrance.

"What's all this about?" Tristan wondered aloud.

"There aren't any more classes today for some reason... everyone's trying to figure out why but they won't tell us." Ray grumbled, walking up to him.

"Is that unusual?" James asked.

"Very... they almost never do this." Fae said.

"Oh well, it means we get the day off." Nemo said, turning and walking off. "Up for a fight or two Schimmel?"

"Of course." Schimmel said, following Nemo. "You have your craymel cage?"

"Never go anywhere without it."

"Those two are barbaric..." Tristan commented.

"Hey, don't forget about me!" Fae yelled, running to catch up with them.

"Her too?" James asked.

Tristan sighed, looking down at James. "It's a long story... come on, I'll tell you all about it."


	2. Craymels

"Majinken!" A shockwave shot from the tip of Schimmel's sword in a flash, tearing up the ground as it closed in on the wolf. It tried to move out of the way, but Fae quickly ran up and kicked it back in to the line of fire. It let out a howl as Schimmel's Majinken took a chunk out of it's side. "One down."

"You two make quite a team." Nemo laughed, clapping from the sidelines.

"You could give us a hand you know, it was your idea to do this." Fae yelled, kicking one of the five Night Raids that had attacked them so hard it's neck snapped.

"Right, right... sorry." Nemo mumbled, running over to join them.

"Those guys... are amazing." James commented.

"What are you talking about kid? They aren't even taking this seriously." Tristan said, crossing his arms. "I've watched them fight countless times... these monsters are nothing but a joke to them."

"Aren't you going to fight?"

Tristan sighed, glancing down at the sword on his belt. "I'm not much of a fighter... I can't even do the most basic sword technique. I should know enough to protect you though, that's why I borrowed this from Schimmel."

Fae ran over to one of the wolves and kicked it in the face, sending it skidding across the ground. It slowed to a stop in front of Nemo, who promptly hit it with his staff. Schimmel finished off the other two wolves easily with a combination of normal attacks and his Raijinken technique.

"These guys are no real challenge." Schimmel said, resting his sword on his shoulder. "You're not even using your craymel artes Nemo."

"Why bother with such weaklings?" Nemo shrugged, twirling his craymel cage between his fingers absent-mindedly.

"You better not do that Nemo, you remember what happened last time?" Fae said.

"Huh?" A flash of red light shot from Nemo's craymel cage, erupting in a small burst of flames a few feet from his face. Nemo stumbled backwards in surprise.

"How many times do I have to tell you not to do that?!" A small, but fierce voice shouted. Something that resembled a small fireball with a body and face was floating in the air, glaring at Nemo.

"Geez... you really are a hothead. I've told you before it's just a nervous habit Flare." Nemo said, giving the little fireball an annoyed look.

"What the hell is that thing? A monster?" James wondered, walking over to get a closer look.

"Who're you calling a monster ya little punk?!" The little fireball yelled, darting through the air so he was face to face with James.

"Little punk? Look who's talking. How tall are you, six inches at the most?" Tristan laughed.

"Why you-"

"That, James, is the reason you might want to skip the fire craymel classes." Nemo sighed.

"That thing is... a craymel?" James muttered in disbelief.

"Flare, one of many lesser fire craymels. The most annoying of the three, in my opinion."

"I second that opinion." Tristan muttered.

"I ought to torch you for that!" Flare shouted.

"Three? You have more?" James asked.

"Of course." Nemo held up his craymel cage. "Misty, would you mind helping me cool down this hothead?"

A dark blue light shot from his cage this time, coming to a stop by Flare. A translucent blue craymel that resembled a person appeared out of the light. It was about the same height as Flare, but it's dark blue hair was almost twice as long as it's body. "Are you on the warpath again, Flare?" it asked in a slightly annoyed tone.

"Ah, mind your own business." Flare snapped.

"You must learn to calm down once in a while."

"I know you don't like being spun around either!"

"True, but he has been doing it less than before."

"Geez, it bothers you too Misty? Sorry... I'll try to stop." Nemo said.

"Sure, listen to her but not me!" Flare shouted.

"Is this... normal for students?" James asked Tristan in a whisper.

"Nah. Most students, or anyone else for that matter, don't take the time to get to know their lesser craymels. They just seal them in a cage or something and use their powers. Nemo's weird like that..." Tristan answered, not having to lower his voice much because Flare was shouting again.

"That little guy will never change." Fae commented, shaking her head.

"I'm just glad he's not bigger... he's loud enough that size." Schimmel muttered.

A green light suddenly shot from the cage in Nemo's hand. What appeared to be a fairy in a long green dress was now hovering by his head. It looked over at Misty, who was still trying to make Flare act a bit more rationally, and brushed it's slightly messy green hair back. "Flare having a tantrum again?" It asked in a soft voice.

"Yeah, but that's nothing new." Nemo sighed. "Why'd you come out Breeze?"

"It was lonely in there by myself..."

Eventually Flare calmed down and went back into the craymel cage, along with Misty and Breeze. Nemo breathed a sigh of relief once they did. "I swear... if I'd have known a fire craymel would be this much trouble, I'd never had taken one for study."

"How do you get a cage and craymels like that anyway?" James wondered.

"The university usually supplies you with one after a while. Craymels too, if you want one and the professor in charge of that department thinks you can handle it." Nemo said, attaching a thin string to his craymel cage and hanging it around his neck like an amulet. "Professor Porter gave me Breeze, my first craymel. Then I got Misty from Professor Ristow, and Professor Natilda, who never seemed to like me much, let me take Flare. I'd love to have a lesser light craymel to have all four Inferian types, but that's Donovan's department... he'd never agree to it."

"Don't you think the three you have cause enough problems? Well, at least Flare does, I'm not sure about the other two." Tristan said.

"He's not that bad when he's not acting up..."

"So what's the plan now? It's getting late... we did come pretty far south, Mt. Mintche isn't too far from here." Schimmel said, looking up at the sky.

"If you're saying we should spend the night in a cave at the mountain base, forget it." Tristan grumbled.

"Lets just head back to Mintche." James suggested.

"Fine with me..." Nemo said.

"Wait a second guys. Don't you sense that?" Fae asked, looking toward the nearby forest.

"We're not the ones with the hunter's instincts... but are you sure you aren't just tired and imagining things?" Tristan asked.

"No... something's out there... and it's coming this way."

The five of them stood there, staring at the forest and waiting for something to happen. A couple minutes passed, but nothing came. Schimmel scratched his head, "I think your senses are off today Fae."

"The hell they are, it's just sitting there, waiting for us to turn away." Fae muttered.

"You're being paranoid... come on." Tristan said.

"I'll show you paranoid!" Fae shouted, walking over to Schimmel and grabbing his sword.

"Fae, what-"

She raised the sword in both hands and slashed straight down. "Majinken!" A shockwave ripped across the ground and into the forest. There was a crack like it hit something, followed by a deafening roar. "I told you something was there." she said, tossing the sword back to Schimmel.

A massive shadow emerged from the woods, and roared again. "Big sucker!" Tristan exclaimed, taking a step back.

"What the hell is it?!" James cried.

"The biggest eggbear I've ever seen in my life. At least twice the size of normal ones... think we can take him?" Nemo wondered, holding his staff ready.

"Probably... we've fought normal ones before. I didn't think they could grow this big though." Schimmel said.

"You're the one that wanted a challenge, well here it is." Fae said, dropping into a fighting stance.

The giant eggbear charged at Schimmel, who jumped back as it took a swing at him. "Majinken!" His attack hit the eggbear in the leg, but it only left a thin scratch. It rushed him again, roaring loudly.

Fae dashed behind it and jumped, kicking it hard in the back. It turned around and clawed at her, she dodged just in time and the eggbear struck the ground, leaving a deep claw mark in the dirt.

"Aqua Edge!" Nemo shouted, a small spinning blade of water shooting from the end of his staff. It hit the eggbear's right arm, but seemed to do even less damage than Schimmel's Majinken. It did however, make the eggbear even angrier. It swung it's arm to the side, striking Schimmel with the back of it's claw and sending him rolling across the ground.

"You big jerk! Triple Blossom!" Fae shouted, punching it twice in the back and finishing with a forward somersault kick. It reached back and hit her just as hard as Schimmel, then started to advance on Nemo.

"Want some more of this huh? All right then, Wind Blade!" Blades of air slashed around the eggbear, but it barely flinched. "Crap. Fireball!" Three balls of flame shot from Nemo's staff and struck the eggbear head on, it roared in pain then rushed at Nemo even faster.

"Look out!" Tristan yelled, running in front of Nemo just as the eggbear struck. "Raijinken!" There was a flash and Tristan dropped to the ground, three deep claw marks across his chest. The eggbear stumbled backwards, a blackened stab wound in it's arm.


	3. Friends

"Tristan!" Fae cried as he landed on the ground.

"You'll die for that!" Schimmel yelled dashing up behind the eggbear. "Kogahazan!" He leapt up, slicing the eggbear once when he was ascending and again before landing back on the ground. The eggbear roared, turning back to face Schimmel and swinging wildly at him.

"Tristan, are you out of your mind?!" Fae yelled at him, running over.

"We have to get him back to Mintche, fast!" James said in a panic.

"He'll be fine in a second... which is more than can be said for this eggbear." Nemo said seriously, before running over to help Schimmel.

"How will he be... what are you doing Fae?"

Some sort of light was swirling around Fae, gathering in her hands. "Healer!" Tristan glowed for a second, and when the light faded his wounds were mostly gone.

Tristan coughed, putting his hand where the wound had been. "Thanks... Fae..." he muttered.

"That's what I'm here for." Fae grinned.

"I'll take care of him... you should probably give Schimmel and Nemo a hand..." James said, still staring at Tristan with a worried expression on his face.

"I'd better not."

"What? Why?"

"Because by the look of things, they're ready to slaughter that eggbear. I don't want to get in the way."

Schimmel was facing the eggbear, holding his sword ready. Nemo was a few feet behind Schimmel, focusing his energy. "Ready Schimmel?" he asked.

"I'm always ready." Schimmel answered.

"All right... now! Fireball!" Nemo yelled, shooting three fireballs at the eggbear's face.

Schimmel charged forward, leaping up and slashing the eggbear as he did. When he raised his sword for the second stroke, Nemo's fireball spell hit his sword, covering the blade in flames. "Gurenken!" There was an explosion from Schimmel's sword as he brought it down, engulfing the eggbear in fire and knocking it backwards. The eggbear collapsed onto the ground charred, smoking, and very dead.

"That'll teach him to mess with us." Schimmel said, sheathing his sword. "Why's an eggbear in a place like this, anyway?"

"Who knows... maybe it wandered out here from Nostos Cave, or lived on the edge of Mt. Mintche." Nemo shrugged. "Monsters have been getting worse lately, more people need to help with population control... the three of us can only do so much."

"There's a group back in Rasheans that does the same thing we do. I hear there's a group of soldiers trained in Inferia City for just that purpose as well." Fae said, helping Tristan to his feet.

"In other words, we're the only ones working around Mintche."

"They owe you guys more than they realize." Tristan laughed.

"True. I'm the one that owes you though. What were you thinking jumping in front of the eggbear like that?" Nemo asked.

"And how did you pull off that Raijinken?" Schimmel wondered.

"I don't really know... by body moved out of reflex. I can only guess it's because I was trying to protect a friend." Tristan said, scratching his head.

James looked a bit confused. "What's that have to do with it?"

"Well, sometimes people can manage to do some pretty incredible things to help their friends. Like when you two used that Gurenken for the first time." Tristan grinned at Schimmel and Nemo. "That was a shock to all of us."

"No kidding, especially since we did it by accident. Both you and Fae were in trouble that time, stupid bandits trying to hold you for ransom." Schimmel muttered.

"Yeah, we go after the leader and boom, he's extra crispy." Nemo chuckled.

"See James? Friends give each other strength, it's simple." Fae said, patting him on the head. "We'd better head back now, I'm starting to get hungry."

The group started walking north, back to Mintche. It was quiet for most of the way, but after a while James broke the silence. "So... where did you all learn to fight?"

"I just borrow power from my craymels, without them I'd be useless. Any fool can swing a staff." Nemo said, glancing down at the craymel cage hanging around his neck.

"I know only by watching, really... I do my best to copy Schimmel." Tristan shrugged.

"I grew up learning to fight monsters, that happens when you live in a forest. It's a self taught skill." Schimmel said, glancing over at the forest they were passing by.

"My parents taught me at first, that's why I know how to use a couple sword techniques. After that I studied at the Regulus Dojo for a while where I learned some hand to hand skills and healer. Then I enrolled at Mintche, but becoming a craymel mage didn't seem to suit me, so I stuck with my fists." Fae said, cracking her knuckles. "I like looking my enemy straight in the eye before clobbering it."

"Your parents must be so proud." Tristan laughed.

"Do you think... I could learn to fight too?" James asked.

"Anyone can learn. You're probably a bit young to go one on one with a monster though." Schimmel said.

"Now that I think about it... how did you get into the university anyway?" Nemo inquired. "I thought they didn't let anyone under sixteen take the entry exam. How old are you?"

"I'm almost twelve... Uncle Donovan convinced the people in charge to let me try. I passed with a better score than most of the other people taking it." James muttered, turning a bit red.

"A child prodigy, great. At least you don't boast about it like that jerk Charles." Tristan grumbled.

"No kidding..." Fae mumbled.

"I think this is where we part ways for the day." Schimmel said suddenly, coming to a stop. They were at the top of a small hill on the edge of the forest, and could see Mintche not too far away.

"I didn't think we were this close already..." Tristan said, removing the sword from his belt and handing it to Schimmel. "Thanks for letting me borrow that again."

"No problem. See you guys tomorrow." Schimmel started to walk off, then glanced over his shoulder. "Oh yeah, welcome to the team James." he said with a wave, then disappeared into the forest.

"The team...?" James wondered.

"He's right, I think we got a new member without even trying." Fae laughed.

"Looks like it... too bad it's not a chick though." Tristan muttered the last bit to Nemo.

"I suppose." Nemo grinned.

"What was that?" Fae asked, giving Tristan an irritated look.

"Nothing." Tristan said quickly.

"Part of a team huh?" James mumbled, grinning slightly.

The four of them entered Mintche a short time later, stopping at the cafeteria for dinner before heading back to the dorms. There were two large dorm buildings, one for men and the other for women. Fae parted with them at the entrance, heading into her dorm. They went inside and climbed the staircase, Tristan's dorm was on the fourth floor but Nemo and James were both on the second. Tristan said goodnight and continued up the stairs, while they headed down the second floor hallway.

"I think I'm going to like it here... I was so depressed for the first few days... but after meeting you guys it doesn't seem that bad." James said.

"I know what you mean. I wasn't too fond of the place at first either. Then I met Fae..." Nemo trailed off, a grin growing across his face. "I couldn't believe it when I heard."

"Heard... what?" James wondered.

"You're better off asking her, she'd probably hit me if I told you. Anyway, she introduced me to Tristan and I met Schimmel when he was wandering around the plains fighting monsters."

"I've been wondering... is Schimmel even a student here?"

"Er..."

"He was wearing a uniform when I first saw him, but he doesn't have a dorm like us. They aren't that expensive... what you picked up from those monsters today would be more than enough for a month's rent. He didn't move in it very well either, like it was too long for him or something."

"Schimmel... isn't a student here." Nemo said in a whisper. "He wears my old uniform so he can get into Mintche without drawing attention to himself. People would probably get suspicious if he wore his normal outfit, and if he did he wouldn't be able to join us in the cafeteria or enter the dorms. The university has too many stupid rules like that... just don't say anything about it, okay?"

"Oh... all right. I won't." James stopped in front of one of the doors on the left. "This is my room... good night." he said, opening the door and heading inside.

"Night." Nemo said, before James closed the door behind him. He glanced at the name plate by the door. "Hart, James. Odd... I thought he said he was related to Donovan Trivil. Hmm, must be his uncle on his Mother's side." he shrugged, continuing down the hall.

Nemo passed by two more doors before entering one on the right. He locked it behind him and yawned. "I'd better get some sleep... I won't have my normal nap in Donovan's class tomorrow." he glanced at the calendar on the wall. "Luckily I don't have any other classes in the morning either... perfect." he placed his craymel cage carefully on his dresser, then removed his robe and dropped it onto the back of the chair in front of his rather small desk. He adjusted the collar of the black shirt he always wore underneath his robe since it was starting to choke him, and sat down on the single bed by his window.

"Today sure wasn't what I expected... of course it never is." Nemo muttered, laying back on his bed. "I hope tomorrow's just as interesting, it can be pretty boring around here usually." he said, before drifting off to sleep.

A sudden heavy knocking on his door made him fall out of bed in a panic. He groaned, rubbing his eyes and wondering what time it was. It was bright outside his window, but it couldn't have been noon already. He got up and stumbled over to his door, which was still being pounded on, and opened it.

Fae almost punched him in the face as she went to hit the door again. "It's about time you woke up." she said in an angry tone.

"Fae...? You're not supposed to be in this dorm..." Nemo yawned, then noticed Schimmel, Tristan and James behind her. Schimmel looked a bit worried, and Tristan had a concerned expression on his face and was looking down at James, who appeared to be on the verge of tears. "What's going on?"

"It's that jerk Donovan. Ray and Carol were right, he was plotting to get rid of you... and it looks like he might have actually been able to do it." Fae said seriously.


	4. Announcement

"You're on about that again?" Nemo sighed, walking back into the room and sitting down on the bed. "All right, tell me then. How could Donovan get rid of me?"

Fae hurried in followed closely by the others, Schimmel shut the door behind them. James sat down on the chair Nemo's robe was still hanging on, leaning against the desk and trembling slightly. Tristan stood behind him, resting his hand on the chair's back. Fae still looked serious, and pointed a rolled piece of paper at Nemo. "There were a bunch of these notices at the university, read it." she said as Schimmel took a seat on the end of Nemo's bed.

Nemo took it from her and unrolled it. "Attention all students..." he read aloud. " After much discussion, Mintche University has decided to have a trial student exchange program with Luishka Academy. Each side feels this would be an excellent learning experience for their students. A dozen students from each school have been chosen according to varying factors, and will be exchanged before the beginning of the next semester." he looked up at Fae. "That's not even three weeks from now! They can't possibly force students into this... can they?"

"Keep reading... it gets worse."

Nemo turned back to the paper. "We have already chosen the twelve students to represent Mintche University, the following is a list of the students chosen." he quickly looked down at the R's "Rend, Nikolai. Rian, Nemo..." he trailed off, not sure what to think. "Damn it, Donovan."

"You're not the only one..." James muttered.

"What?" Nemo looked up the list at the H's. "Hart, James..."

James choked, doing his best not to cry. "I don't... want to go to Celestia... I thought just coming here was too far from home... but that... I..." he stuttered.

"I can't believe Donovan could do something like that to his own nephew. I mean, I knew he could be a jerk but..." Tristan trailed off.

"Look down one more..." Fae said.

"Hmm?" Nemo looked at the name below James' and almost dropped the paper. "Hershel, Fae."

"It seems like they're trying to get rid of all of you, except Tristan." Schimmel said.

"Yeah..." Nemo mumbled, looking for 'Sykes, Tristan' on the list but not seeing any place for S's.

"So what are we going to do about it?" Fae asked.

"According to this, not a thing." Nemo said, looking at the other names on the list. "Oh no... not him too. There goes one of the few good things about it." he grumbled, pointing to a name on the list. It read 'Byrd, Charles'. "I was hoping to leave him behind..."

"Are you just giving up?! There has to be something we can do! And what do you mean 'one of the few good things'?! What could possibly be good about it!?"

"Well... I've always wanted to go to Celestia for a visit. Study the craymels, sample the food... and maybe meet the great Keele Zeibel."

Fae gave him an annoyed look. "Damn it, not your idol worship crap again. It was bad enough when you met my parents..."

"I said I was sorry... but meeting them was just... a shock."

"Would you please just be serious?"

"I'll try, but I can't promise anything."

"We have to figure out some way to get out of this..." James muttered.

"We could try talking to the people in charge." Schimmel suggested.

"We could, you couldn't. We'd all be in trouble if you went into the offices wearing that." Tristan said, pointing to the uniform Schimmel was wearing.

"Better than nothing... let's go now. You wait here Schimmel." Fae said, grabbing the uniform off the back of the chair and throwing it at Nemo. "Get dressed and come on."

The group of four hurried out of the room, Fae dragging Nemo as he struggled to put his robe on. The door slammed shut behind them, leaving Schimmel alone in the room. He shrugged, turning to look out the window. After a few minutes, he started to get bored. He got up and walked over to the tall bookshelf in the corner and began looking through it.

It was mostly books about craymels, along with other rather difficult looking books. A lot of them were dusty, as if they hadn't been read in a long time. Schimmel scratched his head, the only one that looked interesting was one about monsters, but he already knew enough about them. He walked back over to the bed and peered out the window, hoping to see the others coming back.

"They'll be a while yet, probably." A voice mumbled.

Schimmel turned around, a bit startled. Nemo's three craymels were floating above the craymel cage that was still laying on the dresser.

"It doesn't seem like whoever made that idea took the students feelings into account... how cruel..." Breeze said, hovering over and looking out the window.

"You three were listening?" Schimmel asked.

"The craymel cage does not block out our hearing, Nemo has asked for our aid in eavesdropping on occasion. I refused, of course." Misty said.

"I didn't. Being sneaky can be fun... even though I like the direct approach more." Flare grinned.

"Are all craymels like you three?" Schimmel wondered.

"Of course not. We're probably as different as you humans are. Granted, most fire craymels have short tempers and water craymels are more sagely." Breeze said casually, still staring out the window.

"Hey!" Flare yelled, obviously offended at her comment. "Well, most wind craymels are supposed to be energetic and fun, what the hell happened to you?"

Breeze ignored him, too focused on something outside. "They're coming back already..." she muttered.

"This soon? That's not a good sign." Misty said, going over to look as well.

A couple minutes later the other four burst into the room, Fae leading the way. Schimmel waited to hear what happened, along with the three craymels who were now all sitting on the edge of the dresser and staring intently at Fae.

"What nerve!" She shouted.

"Come on Fae... they had a point. It's only a semester over there, after that we can come back if we don't like it." Nemo mumbled, sitting down on his bed next to Schimmel.

"I don't care! It's all right for you, but it's not fair to students like James! Damn Donovan for recommending him!" Fae yelled, punching the wall and leaving a fist-sized dent in it.

"I'm with you Fae, that jerk has gone too far this time." Tristan said crossly.

James was leaning against the desk, and looked like he was about to be sick. "Don't worry about it... I mean... you've only known me for a day, you shouldn't be so concerned about me..."

"Don't say that. We... well, I, let you in on our secret. That makes you one of the team, like Schimmel said yesterday." Nemo said.

"Even if he hadn't, I'd still want to help you at least." Tristan said, looking down at James. "You remind me too much of my kid brother back in Barole. He annoyed the crap out of me sometimes, but I never let him down."

"Barole...? That's... my hometown..." James muttered.

"Really? Maybe you knew him then, his name's Marcus."

"Marcus Sykes... you mean Mark? He did mention having a brother at Mintche..."

"That's him! You met his brother without even realizing it, aren't you lucky." Tristan said, grinning.

"Would you concentrate on the matter at hand?" Fae grumbled.

"It's not likely we can all get out of this... but helping James would be something. How could we do it though?" Nemo wondered.

The five of them stood in silence for a long while, each trying to come up with an idea. Nemo was wondering how to convince Donovan to take another student. Fae was still in a bad mood, wondering how violence might be able to solve it. James was too distracted to really focus on it, trying to remember what Celestia was supposed to be like. Tristan was considering taking it up with the other professors, ignoring Donovan completely. Schimmel scratched his head, thinking James might be able to hide out at his place the day they were supposed to leave.

"Is it really that difficult for all of you?" Misty said suddenly.

"It's not that hard to figure out... I thought only top minds could come to this university." Flare chuckled.

"I'm disappointed in you all. If Flare knew the best option and none of you did, something is very wrong..." Breeze muttered.

"You guys have an idea?" James asked.

"Of course, but I think we should let you figure it out for yourselves." Flare said slyly.

Fae slammed her fist on the dresser next to Flare, leaving a large crack along the top of it. "How would you like to figure out if I could crush you in one punch instead?"

Flare whimpered, then disappeared back into Nemo's craymel cage.

"Damn it! Don't hide in there!"

"Forget it. He was just pretending to know." Breeze sighed.

"You weren't though. I know you too well. How can we help James?" Nemo asked.

"Tell them, Misty. You're the brains of this group it seems."

"As you wish." Misty said, then turned to the group. "It's quite simple really, it's something Fae said a while ago."

"Something... I said...?" Fae wondered.


	5. Plan

"I don't see how it'll work. I mean... come on, it's idiotic!" Tristan said after hearing the craymels plan.

"It's the best course of action." Misty said calmly.

"I don't think I could do that though..." James muttered.

"It's not that strange of a plan. Fae, you did say it yourself..." Nemo muttered, then turned to Schimmel. "What's your opinion on it?"

Schimmel didn't answer right away, he seemed to be going over it in his head. "I'm not sure. Wouldn't it be risky?"

"That can't be helped. Anything we do would be risky, but they're right... it's probably the best choice." Fae sighed. "Are you guys up for it? We're going to have to plan it out carefully."

"I'm in." Tristan said.

"All right, just don't put too much of the responsibility on me. I'd probably screw it up." Nemo chuckled.

Schimmel hesitated for a moment, looking at them. "Well... I guess I can do it. I'm not too thrilled with the idea though."

The rest of them turned to James, who was still leaning against the desk. He waited, probably to see if anyone was going to change their mind, then nodded.

"It's settled then. We'd better start now, since classes are cancelled again today." Fae smiled. "Tristan, Schimmel. You two better go get some practice. James and I will work out the details. Nemo, you make us a map."

"Who died and made you the leader, Fae?" Nemo asked.

"Less complaining, more moving." Fae said, quickly pushing Nemo, Schimmel and Tristan out the door one at a time.

It slammed shut behind them. Nemo sighed, shaking his head. "Thrown out of my own room... geez."

The door suddenly swung open again. "Don't forget this!" Fae said quickly, and Breeze sped out of the room awkwardly carrying Nemo's craymel cage. The door slammed shut behind her.

"I hope you don't mind me saying this... but Fae can be really pushy." Breeze muttered.

"We've all said that at one point." Tristan laughed.

Nemo took the cage from breeze and glanced at it for a moment, there was a red hue to it. "Hey... where's Misty?"

"Oh, Fae and James wanted her help working out the details. I'm supposed to help you with the map and Flare is supposed to shut up and let us work. According to Fae, at least." Breeze said, before disappearing into the cage.

"She's in one of those moods again..." Schimmel mumbled.

"Yeah. Come on Schimmel, I need to head to my room and get changed first. This robe isn't exactly battle attire." Tristan said, walking off down the hallway.

"Good luck Tristan." Nemo said before they parted ways.

--

Nemo walked out to the port, looking around casually. Nobody was around, since there were no ships docked or events happening. He grinned, then took out his craymel cage and sketchbook he picked up at the school shop on the way out, since Fae wouldn't let him back into his own room to get one. "Breeze, Flare... time to go to work."

Red and green lights flashed from the cage, and the craymels appeared. "What do you expect me to do?" Flare asked, a bit annoyed.

"Easy, just watch the entrance and let me know if anyone's coming. Breeze, you get an aerial view of the place and tell me about it so I can get a more detailed sketch of the port. I'll get what I can from the ground."

"Right." Breeze said, starting to fly up.

"At least my job's easy." Flare grumbled, heading back to the entrance.

"Good... I should probably start with the major dock since that's where the ship will port." Nemo mumbled to himself, heading to the largest dock.

--

"Here goes! Majinken!" Tristan swung his sword straight down, but nothing happened. "I'm just not cut out for this..." he sighed.

"It's not all in the words, it's how you move." Schimmel said, walking around him. "You're too stiff... relax a bit. Try holding your sword more like this."

"Uh... this?"

"That's it. Now... Majinken!" A shockwave shot from Schimmel's sword, ripping up the ground as it went.

"Okay..." Tristan took a deep breath and raised his sword. "Majinken!" Something similar to Schimmel's attack shot from Tristan's sword, but clearly not as strong.

"Now you're getting it!"

"It wasn't anything compared to yours though..."

"I started out about that weak as well, it takes practice. Come on, lets keep at it for a while."

Tristan scratched his head. "I'm really not looking forward to the next couple of weeks, but after that will probably be even worse."

"Something good has to come of this... it can't all be bad. I don't think..."

"That seemed downright optimistic for you."

"Just swing your sword."

--

Fae opened the bedroom window to let some fresh air in after going over the plan with James and Misty. "What do you think?"

"Are you sure this'll work?" James asked, feeling a bit nervous.

"Don't worry about a thing. We're smarter than we look." Fae said reassuringly.

"There's just so much that could go wrong..."

"It is like that with any plan, nothing is fool-proof." Misty said sagely.

"Aren't you a cheerful one." Fae muttered sarcastically. "Look, we'll have a better idea once Nemo gets back with the map."

James leaned against the desk. "I'm starting to think we should call the whole thing off... I mean... it's only for a semester. If you two are there I should be able to handle it..."

"Too late for that now. You said yourself you didn't want to go to Celestia, and Donovan did it without even asking you first."

"I suppose... I would like to see the look on his face once he finds out I didn't go." James chuckled.

"That's the spirit! Now, let me just..." Fae got up and pulled open Nemo's dresser. "One of these should work."

"Uh... shouldn't we ask before going through his stuff?"

"I'm sure he won't mind if I just grab one of his..." As Fae pulled out one of Nemo's uniforms a book came with it, landing on the floor. "...robes? What the... why would he keep a book in his dresser?"

"Who knows... you should probably just put it back."

"Yeah... probably... but if it's..." Fae picked up the book and stared at it for a moment. "I don't think it'd hurt to see what it is..."

--

"Well, that's good enough. If Fae wants it more detailed she can do it herself." Nemo mumbled, closing his sketchbook. "Breeze! Flare! We're going!"

"About time... I was getting bored." Flare grumbled, before vanishing back into the craymel cage with Breeze.

"I hope Fae hasn't destroyed my room..." Nemo sighed, heading down the path to the main buildings. "Or started digging through my... dresser... uh oh." he broke out into a sprint.

--

"Looks like you mastered the Majinken in one day. Impressive. I'll teach you a bit about the Raijinken tomorrow or whenever you're up to it. Your arm might be a little sore when you wake up." Schimmel said as they walked back into Mintche.

"Yeah, thanks." Tristan muttered, a bit distracted. "I don't really know what to think of all this... it's just so unexpected..."

"You're telling me. I never thought I'd be teaching you how to use a blade, much less... eh?" Nemo bolted past both of them without a second glance, or a first for that matter. "I wonder if there's trouble..." Schimmel mumbled, running after him. Tristan followed shortly after him.

"Damn. Damn. Damn! I didn't even think about that!" Nemo yelled as he ran. The dorms came into view and he skidded to a halt as an Aqua Edge spell soared out of one of the second story windows of the boy's dorms. "That's my room... isn't it? Crap! It's too hard to tell from here! Breeze, go check it out! I'll meet you there!" he said quickly as a green light shot from his craymel cage toward the window the spell had emerged from.

--

"What the hell did you do that for Misty?!" Fae shouted, wiping some of the water out of her hair.

"Nemo gave me very specific orders. If Breeze or I saw anyone trying to read that, we were to attack and make sure they couldn't." Misty said calmly.

"I told you to leave it alone..." James muttered.

"James had the right idea." Another voice said. Fae turned to see Breeze hovering outside the window. "Looking through other people's things is rude you know."

"I'm getting it from all sides... geez. Sorry." Fae said, dropping the book onto the dresser. "What is it anyway?"

The door swung open, almost hitting James. Nemo stumbled in, out of breath. "It's... my... journal..."

"See Fae, it was private. Why else would it be in his dresser instead of on his bookshelf?" James said, moving a couple more steps away from the door. Tristan and Schimmel ran in a second later.

"You guys too? Come on! I didn't know what it was! I just found it when I got a robe from Nemo's dresser!" Fae shouted.

"Found what? We saw Nemo running and thought something was wrong." Schimmel said simply.

"Nice excuse... you sure it wasn't the girl's version of a panty raid?" Tristan joked.

"You pervert!" Fae yelled, picking up the book and throwing it at Tristan.

--

The next few weeks passed quickly. Tristan and Schimmel spent most of their time training, Fae kept going over the plans, and Nemo seemed to wander off with James occasionally. The day to leave was there before they could practice the routine a fifth time like Fae wanted, which was probably for the best. The five of them planned to gather outside the dorms ten minutes before they were due at the port.

Fae was there first, of course, followed shortly by Tristan and Schimmel. She tapped her foot impatiently, looking around. "Where are those two idiots?"

"Got me. Didn't you stop by their dorms before coming down, Tristan?" Schimmel inquired.

"Yeah, they were both empty though. I figured they were waiting down here already." Tristan said, scratching his head.

"Of all the times to be late!" Fae complained. "Those two are just so-"

"Hey guys!" Nemo called out, waving as he walked toward them from town, James following at his heels.

"There you are... where were you two at? Fae was getting psychotic on us." Tristan said with a laugh.

"That's our little secret." Nemo said slyly. "Right James?"

"Yeah, you'll find out soon enough anyway." James grinned, shifting the bag on his shoulder.

"Why are you carrying that, James?" Schimmel asked.

"Well he can't very well walk up there without luggage, it'd look suspicious." Fae said, as if it was obvious.

"She thought of everything... isn't she great?" Tristan smiled, putting his arm around Fae.

She swiftly elbowed him in the stomach. "Would you try using your brain to control your thoughts for once? Honestly..." she sighed.

The five of them headed to the port. Fae was carrying a large suitcase in each hand, Nemo only had one, James was shifting the bag over his shoulder nervously, while Tristan and Schimmel were going empty-handed. When the dock was in view Nemo suddenly came to a stop, dropping his luggage.

Schimmel was the first to notice, since he had tripped over the suitcase Nemo dropped. "Ow... what'd you do that for?" he asked, a bit annoyed.

Nemo didn't answer, he was staring straight ahead with a shocked expression on his face.

"What're you..." Fae began, then saw what he was staring at. "Oh my..."

"What is it? You two look like zombies or something..." Tristan said, glancing from them to the dock, trying to figure out what was so surprising.

"Who knows... but we have to hurry. Snap out of it you two!" James yelled.

"I see it now. Wow." Schimmel said, getting back up.

"I don't... believe it..." Nemo muttered.


	6. Departure

Nemo made his way along the ship's crowded corridor, trying not to bump into any other passengers. He soon found the room he was supposed to stay in, along with Fae and James who seemed to have gotten lost in the rush. Nemo pushed the door open and closed it quickly behind him, dropping his suitcase onto one of the nearby beds.

"Once it quiets down out there, I'll have to take a better look around." he mumbled to himself, sitting down on the bed.

A moment later the door opened and Fae hurried inside. "You think they'd make a special trip just for students, not have all these other people onboard as well." she complained, dropping her two cases on the floor by one of the other two beds and collapsing onto it. "I can't believe I have to share a room with you two. I swear, if you try anything..."

"Me? Who do I look like, Tristan? No offense Fae, but I don't find you in the least bit attractive." Nemo said bluntly, getting up and walking over to the small circular window that overlooked the port.

"What's wrong with me?!" Fae demanded.

"You're just not my type. It's nothing personal."

"Well then what IS your type? Now that I think about it, I've never seen you go after a girl at Mintche..."

"Would you rather I be more like Tristan, or that idiotic guy with red hair that chases girls relentlessly? What's his name again? Zell... something?"

"If you were anything like him I'd be sure not to fall asleep. Now quit evading the question!"

Nemo hesitated, staring out the window for a moment. The ship jolted slightly as it began to move. "You might want to come look, it's the last time we'll see them for a while." he muttered.

Fae got up and joined Nemo at the window, glancing back at two tall figures in Mintche uniforms standing at the end of the dock. She glanced at two other people behind them as well, each of them wearing what were clearly Rasheans designs. "Our friends and family, seeing us off." she sighed.

"For you at least." Nemo mumbled, walking back to his bed and sitting down.

"That is odd... why didn't your-"

Fae's sentence was cut off as the door swung open and a blonde boy stumbled into the room. "I made it..." he said, quickly closing the door behind him and slumping onto the ground. He dropped the bag that was hanging over his shoulder onto the floor. "I'm glad Donovan didn't turn up... or it could've been a lot worse."

"It went off fine, just keep a low profile for now. Besides, Donovan couldn't show up. James and I saw to that." Nemo said with a grin.

"What did you two do now?" Fae asked in a slightly irritated tone.

"The main building was empty, and we managed to get Donovan into his office long enough to seal the door with Flare's help. He's probably still stuck in there." Nemo laughed.

"I suppose it's a good thing we got James away from you... you'd be a bad influence on him. Right Schimmel?" Fae said, obviously trying not to laugh at the thought of Donovan's plight.

Schimmel looked up at her, grinning. "I don't know, he's stuck with Tristan now. Don't you think he'd be a worse influence on James?"

Fae froze, thinking about it for a moment. "...oh no."

--

Tristan and James watched as the ship pulled away from the dock. "There they go... I hope Schimmel is really okay with this..." James muttered.

"It's a bit late if he isn't. Now for the hard part, just act casual until everyone leaves, then you can get off that barrel. It's strange having you be taller than me." Tristan said quietly, glancing back at the other people that were slowly leaving the dock.

"I'm just glad this robe covered the whole thing... it'd look weird to see the bottom of a barrel where someone's feet should be. We'd be busted in no time." James said.

"Your hair's a bit different too, you're lucky nobody noticed that. The color's a bit lighter than Schimmel's." Someone behind them said.

"Hmm... you're right, it is." Tristan mumbled.

"You're not the brightest in the group, are you Trist?" The person chuckled.

"I think we've been caught..." James sighed, looking at the man with red hair behind them.

"Huh? Ah! Mister... Hershel... uh..." Tristan stuttered, just now noticing him.

"You don't have to put it like that, Reid. Tristan can't be dumb if he got into Mintche." A woman with green hair slightly longer than Reid's commented.

"I don't know about that Miss Farah, maybe he got in on a fluke. His grades aren't exactly high." James chuckled.

"Quiet you." Tristan said quickly to James, then turned back to Reid and Farah. "I know it might be a lot to ask, but please don't tell anyone about this... they'll find out at the end of the weekend anyway. So..."

"Fae told us everything. I didn't agree with it at first, but..." Farah began.

"But she managed to convince you, as usual." Reid grinned.

"Look who's talking, you didn't seem to need any convincing."

"You know how she is, why bother trying to change her mind when it's impossible?" Reid shrugged. "It's obvious where she gets her stubbornness from." He added in a whisper to James.

"Thanks for going along with it." Tristan said.

"Yeah. I really didn't want to go to Celestia..." James mumbled.

"No problem. We have a long walk back to Rasheans tomorrow, so we'd better be going back to the hotel. So long Tristan, James." Farah said, turning and walking off. "Come on, Reid."

"I'll catch up later, I have something to take care of first." Reid said.

Farah hesitated for a moment, then continued on. "All right."

"What do you have to take care of Mister Hershel? If you don't mind my asking..." Tristan muttered rather nervously.

"Fae told me you were finally learning how to use a sword. I was hoping to see what you've learned so far. If you're going to be the only defender of Mintche, I don't want you being unprepared." Reid said seriously.

"He's not going to be the only one protecting Mintche." James said.

"I'm not? Who else is there?" Tristan wondered.

James smiled. "Isn't it obvious? Me!"

--

"He's a smart kid, he won't be convinced to be like Tristan very easily." Nemo said, laying back.

"I hope you're right." Fae said, sitting down on her bed. She glanced at Schimmel, who was still resting on the floor. "So, what's in the bag James gave you?"

"No idea." Schimmel said, picking it up and opening it. "Looks like a note and boxes."

Fae reached into the bag and removed the note, starting to read it. "It's a thank you note for helping him."

"Didn't we hear enough of that before we left? He really needs to learn when to quit." Nemo sighed.

Schimmel reached into the bag and took out one of the boxes. "Fae, this has your name on it."

"Huh?" Fae looked over the letter at the box in Schimmel's hand. She set down the note and took it from him, opening it. "It's... a new pair of gloves. Steel plates in the knuckles, these look a lot better than my other pair. He did mention something about a farewell present in the note, but I didn't expect this." she said, trying them on.

"Here, Nemo." Schimmel said, tossing a small box at him. "One for me too..." He opened the box and an amulet fell onto the floor. "What's this...?"

"Looks like a poison charm, that'll be handy." Fae said, leaning over to examine it.

Nemo opened the end of his box and something long slid out onto the bed. "Looks like a Craymel cage. I don't know why he'd give me that, he knows I brought my own." he said, picking it up. "The seal is still on it... it can't be his." he muttered, removing it.

A flash of light shot from the cage and something similar to a fireball appeared, only it was pure white. "You are Nemo, correct? James said I am to help you." It said in a calm voice.

"Whoa... you're... a light craymel!" Nemo said, dropping the craymel cage in shock.

"Correct. I am Wisp."

"Kinda reminds me of Misty." Fae commented.

"At least it's not like Flare, that'd be a headache." Schimmel chuckled, putting his poison charm on.

"Since we are not in danger, I shall enter your craymel cage for now." Wisp said simply, vanishing into the craymel cage hanging around Nemo's neck.

"Uh, okay." Nemo muttered as he did. "I don't know about him being like Misty, she's a bit... well..."

"A bit more sociable? I'd agree with you there." Fae said, turning back to her gloves.

"They can hear you, Fae. Don't say anything mean."

"I know... so what good is a light craymel? I've never heard of using one in combat before."

"That's a good question. I wanted one to find out, but that'll have to wait until we reach Celestia."

"Speaking of wondering how things work... any idea how this is supposed to protect someone from poison? It's just a dinky little charm." Schimmel said, staring at the charm around his neck.

"Who knows? It might have something to do with craymel magic, I've never really thought about it." Fae said, scratching her head. "As long as it does what it's supposed to, it doesn't really matter does it?"

"I guess not..." Schimmel mumbled, getting to his feet. "Which of those is mine again?" he asked, pointing at the two suitcases by Fae's bed.

"The one with the yellow handle."

"Right." Schimmel walked over to pick it up when the ship began to shake. He stumbled a bit, but was able to regain his balance. "What was that?"

"It sounded like-" Nemo was cut off as it happened again, this time much worse than the first.

Nemo gripped the bed to keep from falling and Schimmel stumbled again, still able to keep his balance but only barely. The shaking continued, and a loud rumbling soon joined it. "What the hell?!" Fae cried as the ship jolted violently. Nemo lost his grip, rolling off his bed onto the floor and Schimmel was thrown from his feet.


	7. Journey

"Ow... my head." Nemo groaned, rubbing the side of his head where it had hit the floor. "Are you two okay?"

Fae was flat on her bed, looking annoyed. Mainly because Schimmel had fallen onto her. "You're right Nemo, you're not the one I have to worry about. It's this idiot." She said, grabbing his collar.

"Wait Fae, it was an-" Schimmel began, but couldn't finish after Fae shoved her other hand into his stomach. She pushed up hard and tossed Schimmel over her head, sending him crashing into the bed next to hers.

"I think that was a bit much, Fae." Nemo commented.

"He had it coming." Fae said crossly.

"I wasn't trying to fall on you..." Schimmel coughed, sitting up.

"Not that! Oh... nevermind. What caused that anyway?"

"I think we just left Inferia." Nemo said, going over to the window. He could see Inferia behind the ship, slowly getting smaller. "Yep. That means we should reach Celestia in a day or two."

"A day or two?! Nobody told me the trip was that long!" Schimmel exclaimed.

"I thought it was common knowledge." Fae said.

"Yeah, it's not like they're connected anymore. You can't go from one to the other in a matter of minutes. Well, maybe a few thousand minutes." Nemo muttered, still staring out the window.

"I've never been stuck in such a small place that long. I hope I don't go nuts here." Schimmel sighed.

"You don't have to stay in the room, it's okay to wander the ship as long as you don't mess with anything." Fae said, picking up Schimmel's suitcase and tossing it onto the floor by his bed.

"Maybe I'll take a walk then. Want to come, Nemo? I know you were excited about seeing this ship."

Nemo didn't answer, he was still gazing out the window with a serious expression on his face. "Maybe..." He muttered to himself, clearly not paying any attention to Schimmel and Fae.

"Uh... Nemo?"

"Hmm?"

"Are you okay? That bump to your head didn't give you brain damage did it?" Fae asked with a chuckle.

"I was just thinking about something." Nemo said, walking over to the door. "I'm gonna take a look around, this is probably a once in a lifetime thing. I never expected that we'd actually get to ride on the Van Eltia!"

--

The three of them walked along the now empty corridors of the ship. They heard voices coming from behind a few of the other doors leading into cabins, but ignored them. Fae pointed out they should keep their distance from other students for now, since someone might actually know Schimmel wasn't James. The voices faded and a grinding could be heard coming from through a doorway.

"Be careful! That's very important!" A woman's voice yelled.

Nemo peered into what must have been the engine room. Four people were inside, three were dressed in the normal crew's uniform but the fourth was wearing a red and white shirt with long sleeves and long, blindingly bright orange pants.

"Careful? I couldn't damage this if I hit it with a hammer!" One of the engineers, an Inferian boy, retorted.

"If you hit my beautful machines with a hammer I'll hit YOU with one!" The woman in red shouted.

"Calm down Captain, I wouldn't allow such a thing. He is new here, please go easy on him. I'd rather not have to train another new engineer." A Celestian girl said calmly, brushing her long black hair out of her eyes.

"I don't see why we need another one anyway. You and Philia are all I need, Oriana. With my knowledge the three of us are more than enough to keep the Van Eltia in top condition. Isn't that right?"

"Huh?" An Inferian woman with long green hair glanced up from the open panel she had been examining. "I'm sorry Captain... but were you speaking to me?"

"See? Focused." The Captain said, gesturing to Philia, who was now looking a bit confused. "That's what you need to be, Remus. At least if you want to stay on my ship." She said crossly, looking at the Celestian boy again.

"Can you guys understand a word they're saying? I sure can't." Schimmel said, scratching his head.

"I can understand them." Fae said.

"Me too. Don't tell me you forgot..." Nemo sighed. He reached up and lifted Schimmel's hair that was hiding his ear. "You did..."

"Forgot what?" Schimmel asked, taking a step away from Nemo.

"The earring that James gave you, what did you do with it?" Fae asked.

"Oh, that odd thing?" Schimmel reached into his pocket and removed a golden earring with a large green gem on it. "I didn't see what the point of it was. It's a bit gaudy, really.

"You idiot." Nemo muttered. "That's an Orz Earring. It's so you can understand Melnics."

"And before you ask, Melnics is the language used by Celestians." Fae added.

"I know what Melnics are, but how's this supposed to help?" Schimmel inquired, getting a bit annoyed.

"Just put it on!"

"Fine... how?"

"You're hopeless..." Fae sighed, taking the earring from him. "Hold still." she said sternly, trying to put it on him.

"Hey... what're you- OW!"

"I said hold still!"

"What are you three doing down here?" Someone asked.

Nemo glanced back at the engine room and saw the Captain standing in the doorway. Schimmel and Fae didn't seem to notice, since they were both still having problems with his earring.

"Hello, Captain Chat!" Nemo said, more enthusiastically than he meant to.

"Do I know you?" She asked, looking Nemo over. "You don't look familiar."

Schimmel hesitated for a moment when he noticed Chat and Fae took the opportunity to clamp the earring onto his ear. "OW! That hurt, Fae!"

Fae ignored him, walking up to Chat and extending her hand. "Hi Chat. You wouldn't know this oddball, but maybe you remember me?"

Chat stared at Fae, scratching her head. "Hmm... nope."

"Ah." Fae sighed, lowering her hand. "I suppose you wouldn't, it was a long time ago. At least five years..."

"This thing still isn't working, Fae..." Schimmel said, tapping on his earring.

"You have to give it some time, I've had mine on since yesterday so I'd get used to it." Nemo said, glancing back at Schimmel.

"Fae? You mean... Reid and Farah's daughter?" Chat wondered.

"You do remember me!" Fae exclaimed.

"Of course, I just didn't recognize you at first. How have you been?"

"Great, and you?"

"I've been having trouble finding a new engineer. You had some interest in machines when I saw you last time, if this new guy doesn't work out maybe I could convince you to try for the job? I'm starting to think women are more suited for it." Chat grumbled, glancing back into the engine room just as Remus dropped something on his foot and cursed.

"We'll leave you two to catch up." Schimmel said, walking away quickly. "Come on, Nemo." He grabbed Nemo's arm and pulled him back down the corridor they had come from.

"W-wait I... it was nice meeting you Captain Chat!" Nemo said quickly as Schimmel pulled him around the corner.

"Jeez... if you get like this just from meeting her, you'll probably have a heart attack if you ever meet Keele." Schimmel sighed.

Nemo chuckled nervously. "You've got a point there."

--

After exploring the rest of the Van Eltia, the three of them met up again in their cabin. It sounded like a good thing that Nemo and Schimmel left when they did, once Fae told them what she and Chat had talked about. Not long after they returned to the cabin, they decided to get some sleep.

The ship jolted slightly, and Schimmel fell out of bed. He mumbled something about it being impossible to sleep well with conditions like these and sat up, looking around the rather dark room. Fae was still in her bed, snoring so loudly he was surprised it wasn't her that had woken him up. Nemo's bed, however, was empty.

Schimmel didn't think much of it, crawling back into bed and trying to get back to sleep. A couple minutes later it was painfully obvious there was no way he was going to nod off again with Fae's snoring. He sighed, put his Mintche uniform on and headed out the door.

Apart from the snoring coming from behind a few of the doors and the distant grinding of the engine, the ship was quiet. Schimmel wandered the ship, but found nobody except a couple crew members. He started climbing up the stairs to the observation deck, and heard voices coming from the top.

"...stopped Fae when she did."

"I know, it would've caused problems if she had seen it."

"Do you plan to ever tell them?"

"They'll find out when the time is right. It's too early right now, they could ruin everything. You remember what happened last time?"

"We know the story as well as you do, but if you told them..."

"No, Breeze. It's out of the question."

"Fine..."

"Nemo, what are you doing up here?" Schimmel asked when he reached the top of the stairs. There were four sudden flashes of light as the Craymels disappeared.

"Oh, hey Schimmel." Nemo said casually, gazing out the glass dome of the observation deck and into space. He wrote something into the book he was holding and closed it. "I couldn't sleep very well with Fae's snoring, so I decided to take a walk."

"Is that all?" Schimmel wondered, not really convinced.

"Of course... I just..." Nemo trailed off, staring at something outside the dome. "What the hell is that?"

Schimmel glanced out the window, but didn't see anything. "Don't try to change the subject..."

"I'm not changing the subject! Look!"

"I don't see..." he began, but then noticed what Nemo was pointing at. "...how that's possible..."


	8. Problems

"What could be making that?" Nemo wondered.

"Don't ask me." Schimmel said, staring at it.

"It... damn, it's gone. I wonder if..." Nemo glanced to the left and right, as if he was looking for something.

"I don't think it'd move over there. We can't see it anymore because the ship passed by." Schimmel pointed out.

"True, but a light coming from a rock in the middle of nowhere? Something must be causing it. Looks like more research..." Nemo sighed.

"More?"

Nemo hesitated. "Well, yeah. I know I'll have plenty to do once we get there. Celestian lessons probably aren't the same as the ones back in Mintche."

"I wouldn't know." Schimmel sighed. "What's the plan for when we get there, anyway?"

"Plan?"

"I don't know the first thing about your classes and such. How exactly am I supposed to keep posing as a student when we get there?"

"Uh..." Nemo chuckled nervously. "I hadn't thought about it."

"We had better ask Fae then."

"What, you don't think I can come up with a plan?!"

"That, and it's a good excuse to wake Fae up and stop her snoring." Schimmel said, heading down the staircase to the lower decks.

"That's probably not a good idea." Nemo muttered, hurrying after him.

Nemo and Schimmel returned to their room, and walked over to Fae's bed. She was still snoring loudly. They stared at her for a moment, but couldn't decide on the best way to wake her.

"Any ideas?" Schimmel asked.

"Not a one. Fae's dangerous during the day, I can just imagine what she's like when she wakes up..."

"Yeah, but we do need her help."

"I know, and it's partly her fault you're here in the first place. How do you want to do it?"

Schimmel scratched his head. "I doubt noise would wake her... so saying her name probably wouldn't work."

"We could try pinching her nose..."

"That's just asking for pain. Maybe giving her a light shake would work?"

"Maybe... give it a try."

"M-me?!" Schimmel stuttered.

"It was your idea."

"Er... she's your friend, you do it."

"She's your friend, too!"

"You've known her longer!"

"I'm afraid to touch her when she's awake! Maybe we should just... wait, did it just get quiet in here?"

Fae's snoring had stopped. Nemo and Schimmel glanced down at her just as she yawned and opened her eyes. She froze when she saw them. There was a scream, followed shortly a crash as both Nemo and Schimmel soared across the room and collided with the far wall.

"What the hell?! I thought Tristan was the pervert! You guys are all the same!" Fae shouted.

Schimmel slowly stood up, still a bit dazed from hitting the wall. "It's not like that..." he mumbled, rubbing his head.

"You were both standing over me and staring! How do you explain that?!"

"We were trying to figure out the best way to wake you up... since I know how grouchy you can be in the morning. You must have heard us talking and woke up on your own." Nemo said, staying on the floor so Fae wouldn't be able to send him flying again if she still wanted to.

"Why would you want to wake me up in the first place? You should have waited until morning..."

"I was about to suggest that before you woke up... but since you're awake now we might as well go over the problem."

"Fine, what is it?"

They talked over how to keep Schimmel's cover after they got to Luishka Academy for a while. By the time they had agreed on something, they could hear the voices of other students outside their door occasionally.

"Sounds like everyone else is awake. Shall we go for breakfast?" Schimmel suggested.

"You probably shouldn't leave the room." Fae said.

"Huh? Why?"

"Someone might realize you're not really James... it's risky."

"I went over that student list enough to know that the only real threat is that jerk Charles. As long as we avoid him, we should be okay. Hell, I'd avoid him even if we weren't trying to keep Schimmel undercover." Nemo said, getting up and stretching. "Let's go eat."

"I'm all for that!" Schimmel said, heading out the door.

"But... you..." Fae began, but neither of them even glanced back at her before leaving. "Ugh... I don't know what I see in those two..." she sighed, following after them.

--

After a very quick breakfast, which Fae thought would be for the best, they headed to the small lounge and took refuge on a pair of couches in one of the darker corners. Apart from them, and two students on the other side of the room, it was empty.

"I don't see why we had to eat so quickly..." Schimmel complained.

"Because Charles was in there, and I wanted to be quick so he wouldn't notice us." Fae explained.

"What about them?" Schimmel wondered, gesturing to the other two students.

"That's just Nikolai and Elli. Elli's not all that observant, and Nikolai usually doesn't bother getting to know new students, so he wouldn't know James. Besides, I doubt either of them would care even if they found out. They follow the rules about as much as we do." Nemo said.

"Speak for yourself." Fae mumbled.

"I hope you're right... because they're coming over." Schimmel said, moments before Nikolai sat down next to him.

"I really hate to interrupt your conversation here, but-" Nikolai began.

"Spill it, Fae." Elli interrupted. "You and Nemo usually know, or have some idea about things like that."

"Could be be more specific, and less rude?" Nemo sighed.

"You haven't heard?" Nikolai inquired.

"Heard what?"

"They don't know... or they're faking it." Elli said.

"Just tell us what you're talking about!" Fae snapped. "You two can be so annoying sometimes..."

"There've been rumors going around that this exchange idea was originally suggested by one of the students." Elli whispered.

"I thought it was Donovan's idea..." Schimmel said.

"Nope. It was one of the students that's on the ship. We've been going over the list of all twelve students for a while now, but can't figure out who it would be just by guessing randomly. We're asking everyone if it was them." Nikolai explained.

"You really think someone would admit to something like that? Half of the students here didn't want to be, us included." Fae said.

"Take your own advice Fae, speak for yourself." Nemo mumbled.

"So we can scratch you off the list I suppose, Fae." Elli turned to Schimmel. "What about you? You're the new kid, James, right? Donovan's nephew would easily be able to talk him into getting the other professors to listen to an idea like this."

"Leave him alone. James would never have done something like like that." Fae said.

"Tell me." Nemo began. "If you did find out who did it, what then? It's not as if it would change a thing. We'd all still be stuck on this ship with no way back to Inferia. Nothing can be done, so sit back and try to enjoy it."

"Not everyone can share such an apathetic view on something like this. You do have a point though, nothing would really change." Nikolai sighed, scratching his head. "Maybe we should just forget about it, Elli."

"I want answers, don't you? I want to know why someone would suggest a trip like this in the first place. Come on Nick, lets try asking Charles about it." Elli said, walking off.

"Don't call me that, I hate the name Nick..." Nikolai complained, getting up and following her. "We'll let you know if we find out who it was." he said before walking out the door.

Fae waited a few moments after they left before she spoke. "Do you think that's true? That a student here made the suggestion in the first place? If that's true..."

"Like I said before, who cares? It wouldn't change a thing." Nemo said casually.

"It would be nice to know just who caused all this in the first place though. If I had to bet on it, I'd go with Charles. I wouldn't put something like this past him."

"I think you'd lose that bet, Fae." Schimmel said, leaning back. "I didn't mention it before, because I didn't think it was important, but I saw Charles the day after the announcement was made. He was sitting by himself and grumbling about the trip. It sounded like he tried to get out of it but was turned down."

"You're kidding! Damn, there goes my only suspect." Fae sighed. "Do you have any ideas about who it could be, Schimmel?"

"How would I know? The only people I really know from Mintche are you two, Tristan, James and the two oddballs."

"I don't think Ray and Carol would like being called 'oddballs'." Fae said with a chuckle. "How about you, Nemo?"

Nemo was leaning on the arm of the couch with a serious expression on his face, clearly in deep thought about something.

"Nemo...?" Fae nudged him with her elbow. "You daydreaming again?"

"Hmm? No, just thinking." He answered calmly.

"You know who it was, don't you?"

Nemo shifted in his seat, his gaze turning to the ceiling as he laid his head back. "Maybe."

"I knew it! You may act apathetic, but you're always a little curious unless you already know something. You can't keep a secret from me, I know you too well." Fae grinned.

"Who was it then?" Schimmel asked.

"I thought it was obvious." Nemo muttered.

"Just tell us who it was!" Fae said.

Nemo laughed. "I don't see how you can be a student at Mintche and not have figured it out. Just think about it for a second. Who had the most reason?"

"The only person I can think of is Donovan, but he's not a student." Schimmel said, scratching his head.

"Well, there's at least one person who wasn't bothered by the idea of going to Celestia. That's the person you should suspect."

"Are you saying that..." Fae mumbled. "...it was you?!"

Nemo looked over at Fae and grinned. "Bingo."


	9. Descent

"You jerk! What the hell for?!" Fae screamed, grabbing Nemo's collar and shaking him violently.

"I knew I should've told you from a safe distance." Nemo chuckled. "Little help, Schimmel?"

"You're on your own this time." Schimmel said. "I'd like to know why you'd do something like that too."

"That's cold..."

"Just answer the question!" Fae demanded.

"Well, it's because I wanted-"

Fae tightened her grip. "If you say it's because you wanted to meet Keele Zeibel, I'll hurl you across the room" She said, glaring at Nemo.

"Uh... no comment?"

CRASH! The next thing Nemo knew he was upside-down on a broken table on the other side of the room. "Selfish jerk!" Fae yelled, storming out the door and slamming it behind her.

Nemo groaned, slowly rolling off the table and unsteadily getting to his feet. "Damn, she's scary." He muttered, rubbing the back of his head.

"She's right though, it was selfish if meeting Keele was your only reason." Schimmel said, still sitting on the couch.

"It wasn't selfish..."

"How's that?"

Nemo hesitated, thinking about it before answering. He shook his head. "Well, maybe it was a bit selfish... but I never meant to drag you or Fae into it. I had never met James when I made the plan, and it seemed very unlikely that out of all the students in the school that Fae or Tristan would be picked for it. I guess that's why Fae always makes the plans... mine have a tendency to go wrong."

"No matter who was picked for the transfer, they were bound to be unhappy about it."

"How was I supposed to know it would be mark-oriented and forced? That was Donovan's idiotic idea. Besides, it's just an inconvenience to those that don't want to go, it's not like it's permanent."

"Maybe not, but..." The ship trembled suddenly, and the lights flickered. It was calm for a moment and the ship jolted as if it had hit something.

Nemo toppled over from the force, landing on one of the seats. "What was that?"

--

"What did you do?!" Oriana yelled.

"It was an accident." Remus said.

"You idiot! Captain Chat will have your head if you're not careful!"

"There was no major damage done that I can find. Nothing to worry about." Philia said, examining the part of the engine Remus had been working on.

"Consider yourself lucky."

"Yeah, yeah..." Remus grumbled

"What the hell is going on down here?!" Chat shouted, stomping into the engine room.

"It's nothing to worry about, Captain. I have everything under control." Oriana said calmly.

"Oh really? Then what caused that turbulence about five minutes ago?"

"It was a mistake. Nobody's hurt, and it won't happen again, so it's like Oriana said. Nothing to worry about." Remus said, wondering if Chat was always like this.

"Nobody's hurt? Tell that to the eight people suffering minor burns from your 'mistake' you idiot!" Chat snapped.

"We didn't get a warning about anything broken down here..." Oriana said, inspecting the console that informed them of the internal workings of the ship. "Unless the sensors are damaged."

"It's noon." Philia said simply.

"So?" Remus grumbled.

"Oh right. Lunch." Oriana mumbled. "There was soup on the menu for today, wasn't there?"

"Ouch."

"Don't let it happen again, or I'll throw you off my ship." Chat said sternly, before turning on her heel and walking out.

"Throw me off? Into the abyss?" Remus wondered if she was serious.

"It wouldn't be the first time." Oriana said. "Remember Carth?"

"Yes. Who could forget watching him drift into the distance with that shocked expression on his face? Though I can't say I'll miss him." Philia said casually.

"He was fairly skilled, but that attitude was what did him in. Better work on your technique and mind your manners around the Captain, Remus, or you'll be next."

"R-right. I'll... be back in a minute." Remus muttered, hurrying off.

The moment he was out of earshot, Oriana laughed. "The look on his face was priceless. Thanks for the backup, Philia, you usually don't support my little stories used to torment the new guys."

"Well, Carth did look shocked when we left him. I just didn't mention it was on an island, not in space. Besides, that fool Remus gave me a lot of work to do, and I'm not too pleased about it."

"Didn't you say there was no major damage?"

"There wasn't, it's just a lot of little things. I should have it done before we arrive at Celestia."

--

Fae walked aimlessly around the ship for almost two hours, trying to get rid of her understandably bad mood. When she heard someone mention they would be arriving at Celestia before long, she decided to go back to her room and gather up anything she had left sitting around before they landed.

She stopped for a moment just outside the door, listening to a voice behind it. It sounded like it was the only one, so someone must have been talking to themselves. She pushed open the door slightly to peek inside, but the voice stopped when she did.

"Fae?" It asked.

She recognized it as Schimmel. "Yeah, it's me..." She answered, pushing the door open fully. Schimmel was sitting on his bed, an open book hanging loosely in his left hand. "Where'd you get that?" She wondered.

"Nemo lent it to me before he left. He thought it might help me when I get to the Academy... but I'm having a hard time understanding half of it." He grumbled, taking another brief look at the open page before closing it with a snap. "This is going to be one long headache..."

Fae stared at him for a moment, feeling a bit confused. "What do you mean he left?"

"He mentioned how it takes you ages to cool off after getting mad, and that after something like that you'd be 'miffed for a week or better' before you probably even wanted to look at him." Schimmel said with a shrug. "He heard we were close to landing, so he took his luggage and said he'd spend the last hour or the observation deck or something."

"I see..." Fae muttered, closing the door and going to sit on her bed. "I'm surprised you aren't mad at him too."

"Who said I'm not? If it wasn't for his crazy idea I wouldn't be here trying to understand this stuff." He tapped the cover of the book, sighing. "Of course, according to him this wasn't exactly what he had planned. He suggested a voluntary sign-up, but Donovan had other ideas. When you think about it, there's more than one person to blame."

"I guess you're right. Still... he was basically planning to leave us behind without saying a thing."

"...I hadn't thought of it like that."

--

Nemo sighed, dropping his suitcase by the wall and sitting on the floor next to it. The observation deck had been closed off during their approach to Celestia for safety reasons, and for the lack of anywhere else to go, he had gone down to the hall outside the engine room. Mainly because everywhere else there was a student or two, and Fae had apparently taken it upon herself to inform the others that it was his fault they were on the ship. Meaning the grinding engine was equal to a soft sprinkling of rain when compared to the cross words he found everywhere else.

"Maybe you should just tell them." A voice mumbled, making him jump.

Breeze was sitting on his suitcase with the other three lesser Craymels, all of them looking his way. "You know I can't do that. Not after what happened before." Nemo said, leaning against the wall.

"The past is the past. Now is now." Wisp said simply.

"He is right. There is no reason to think the same outcome will be reached." Misty agreed.

"You've never read a history book, have you?" Nemo asked. "It's full of people making mistakes, often the same ones. History repeats itself, it can't be helped. People are fools, it's that simple."

"And you've gotta be one of the biggest around, just look at yourself." Flare piped up. "Your friends and classmates are all ticked off at you, you're keeping secrets from damn near everyone, and YOU'RE not learning a blasted thing from the past either!"

Nemo stared at the little fireball for a moment, then grinned and began laughing.

"What? What the hell's so funny?!" Flare demanded.

"I just never thought I'd agree with you." He said, shaking his head. "I've probably screwed up just as much as anyone else... but I think it's a bit too late to go back now. It's going to be over soon anyway."

"Hey, you!" Someone from the engine room yelled. Remus was standing in the doorway, arms crossed.

"Let me guess... I'm not supposed to be down here?" Nemo wondered, unable to hide the slight irritation in his tone. He doubted anywhere else was safer, since the other students probably wanted to throttle him at this point.

"Actually, I was hoping you could help me with something. Oriana and Philia are busy, and I need to take care of something that requires two people. It's not hard, you just have to hold a lever so I can fix something." He explained.

"Oh... sure."

--

"Come on, let's just see how much longer it is until we get there." Fae said, heading down the hall with Schimmel following slowly after her. "Chat knows me, so I'm sure she won't mind us popping onto the bridge for a second."

"I still think we should just wait in the room. They'll let us know when we arrive." He pointed out, looking around the deserted hall. The other passengers must have all been in their own cabins.

"Don't worry so much. Just follow-" The ship jolted violently, an explosion coming from somewhere below. The lights flickered and died, and the red emergency lights began to flash as a siren coming from somewhere blared loudly.

"Now what?!" Schimmel shouted over the noise.

"I might be wrong... but it sounded like it might have come from the engine room!" Fae answered, plugging her ears.

"WHAT?! Are they still going to be able to land this thing?! We were close to Celestia weren't we? What if we crash?!" Schimmel yelled, starting to panic.

"I'm sure everything's under control! I mean... the Captain wouldn't let her ship go down easily!"

--

"Damn it all! I knew I shouldn't have left that idiot working in the engine room!" Chat screamed, slamming her fists on the inactive piloting console.

"We don't have anything, Captain! All the stations are down!" A crewman shouted over the alarm.

"I can see that, Loki! Stop stating the obvious and evacuate the bridge, now! Everyone, go!" Chat ordered, waving toward the door. She turned back to the window as the bridge crew fled. Celestia was straight ahead, and they had no way to change course. Praying they didn't crash in a city and that enough of the Van Eltia would be left to salvage, she hurried off the bridge as well. There was no time to warn the passengers... all she could do was get as far back as quickly as possible, and hope for the best.


	10. Burnout

"Hey..." a voice whispered.

"Mm... Sheena... you're gorgeous." Another mumbled in reply.

"What? H-hey! Let go of my neck! Wake up, you idiot!" The first voice shouted. "Aqua Edge!"

There was splash as a jet of water shot up Tristan's nose and he bolted upright in bed, coughing and wiping the water off his face. He looked around his bed, wondering what was going on. James was sitting on the floor nearby, looking rather shaken about something. "Huh...? Hey, what was that for, James?!" He shouted between coughs.

"You... you almost kissed me in your sleep! I didn't have a choice!" James countered, brandishing his Craymel Cage at Tristan. "And I am NEVER trying to wake you up again!"

"Why are you trying to wake me up in the first place? We don't have classes today." He said with a yawn, glancing at the clock. It was almost noon.

"No, but the Celestian exchange students are arriving today, remember? We're supposed to gather at the port to meet them at two, and knowing how long it takes you to wake up..."

"Right, right... but you're forgetting something, James." Tristan pointed out. "I don't care." He laid back down, his damp pillow making a squishy sound when he laid his head on it.

James glared at him, thinking. He wasn't going to be brushed aside like that, there was one way to get his attention, as much as he disliked using that tactic. "You know, Trist." He said, standing up and walking over to the bed. "I hear half of the students arriving are girls."

Tristan opened one eye, looking at James to see if there were any obvious signs he was joking. "Really? Six new girls, huh?"

James nodded. "That's what I heard."

"In that case." Tristan quickly got out of bed and headed into his bathroom. "We can't let them be greeted by sour faces like Charles', they need a welcoming face like mine."

James rolled his eyes. Women... Tristan's motivation for everything. "You know, Nemo and the others are arriving on Celestia today too. You think they'll get a big greeting like the one they have planned here?"

"Sure, I doubt any of them will notice it though." Tristan answered, turning on the water for a shower. "Nemo'll be too psyched about meeting Keele, Fae will be paranoid about Schimmel being discovered as a fake you, and Schimmel will probably be wondering where to get something to eat."

James laughed. "Yeah, they'll have fun there, I'm sure. Even Fae, once she's done being worried about Schimmel. I bet first arriving on Celestia will be an event they remember forever."

---

"Fae, come on... wake up!"

Fae slowly opened her eyes, a blurry face beneath light yellow strands of hair was staring down at her. "Schimmel?" She mumbled, feeling very dazed and sore.

"Huh? Who's Schimmel?" He asked.

Fae blinked a few times until the face came into focus. It was Nikolai. "Oh... Nick... sorry." She said weakly. His face was dirty and there was a long slash running down his right cheek. "What happened?"

Nikolai shook his head. "I haven't got a clue. All I know is that we crashed. Bad." He looked over at something, or someone, but it hurt too much for Fae to move her neck and see. "Very bad... some of the crewmen got us out, but parts of the ship were sealed off by twisted metal and broken doors. We don't know where half of the people that were onboard are... and even those of us that got out aren't in good shape. Elli..." he trailed off, staring at whatever was to Fae's left.

Slowly, Fae turned her head, ignoring the pain. Elli was laying on the ground nearby being tended to by a Celestian wearing a Van Eltia crew uniform. She was covered in cuts and bruises, and her right leg was laying at an odd angle. It must've been broken. She looked around, just now realizing she was outside. Other people were laying on the ground nearby as well, but she only recognized a couple of them. The wreckage of the Van Eltia was some distance away, probably so they weren't too close in case it exploded.

That's when she remembered, and started to get worried. "What about Schi... James? And Nemo? And..."

"Fae, calm down..." Nikolai said. "...they haven't..."

"They're unaccounted for, at the moment. As is Captain Chat and most of the crew, for that matter." Someone interrupted.

Fae shifted her head slightly to get a look at the new arrival, though the tone made it pretty obvious. "Charles. You made it out, huh?" She asked weakly.

"Yes... one of the lucky few. Now if you'll excuse me." Charles walked off somewhere, but Fae didn't bother trying to follow his movements. She simply mumbled something rude when he was out of sight.

"He's taking it better than most of us." Nikolai pointed out. "And he's the one that carried you out here, so don't be too hard on him."

Fae's unpleasant thoughts about Charles faded at that. At least most of them. She turned her head enough to see the ruined ship again. "What about..." she began, finding it difficult to speak.

"There are a few crewmen that went back to the ship, so they'll to everything they can to find survivors. Just get some rest... there's nothing you can do for them right now." Nikolai said, standing up. "I've got to go now. A few of us are going to head to the nearest town for medical help, among other things. Just hang on, okay?"

Fae looked up at him and nodded. She barely had the strength to do that, so helping was out of the question, as much as she hated the thought of doing nothing. He smiled weakly at her, looked in Elli's direction for a moment and turned to leave.

---

Schimmel stumbled as another explosion shook the ship, the corridor he was in quickly filling with smoke. "Shouldn't we get out of here?" He asked, doing his best to stay standing as he followed the Captain through the ship.

"If I knew a way out that was actually working and nearby, I'd be going straight for it to get you out." Chat said, coming to a stop and looking back at him. "Since I don't, I have to get to the engine room, find out what the hell happened to my ship and probably throttle that idiot Remus for messing with something he shouldn't have been!"

Schimmel stared at her angry expression for a moment, then tapped the earring Fae had clamped to his ear. "Damn, it's still not working. Gaudy piece of junk." He complained.

Chat groaned in frustration, not having any trouble understanding him. "Inferian or Celestian, men are universal idiots." She grumbled, turning and continuing down the passage before the building smoke got the best of them.

Schimmel coughed, following after her. He wasn't sure where they were going, but he doubted staying put was a good idea. After a few yards down the corridor, Chat came to a sudden stop. Then let out a string of angry words Schimmel didn't need to understand to know they were far from polite.

Chat looked at the destroyed staircase in front of them and rubbed her forehead where the tension was starting to build into an ache. They were cut off from the engine room, all the other paths to it they passed had been blocked as well. She glanced back at Schimmel, who was looking at the sign pointing toward where the staircase used to be.

"If that way's blocked off, then..." He coughed, turning around and looking back at the smoke-filled hall.

Chat began to pace, trying to think of a way off the ship. The emergency exits they passed were either crushed or blocked off, the bridge and escape pods weren't accessible either, which meant they were stuck. She hit the wall, swearing again. She always expected to go down with her ship, but not because of an idiot in the engine room.

"Hey!" Schimmel exclaimed. "I've got an idea, come on!" He said, dashing down the coridor and vanishing into the smoke.

Chat started to tell him to stop, then remembered he couldn't understand a word she said. She just sighed, chasing after him and hoping he wasn't as much of an idiot as Remus.

---

His legs ached, his left arm was throbbing and the faint smell of smoke, oil and burning flesh was in the soft breeze blowing across his face. He didn't want to move, or even open his eyes. The loud voice in his ear had other ideas though.

"Wake the hell up already! You get killed here and I'll never hear the end of it from these two!" It yelled, as something pinched Nemo's eyelids and pulled them open. He was face to face with a very irritated Craymel. "UP!"

"Flare?" Nemo mumbled weakly, tilting his head forward as he started to get up, but quickly stopped as the pain worsened.

He looked around the engine room as Flare moved back. It didn't look much like an engine room anymore, at least not what he could see. Blown out consoles, pipes sticking out of warped and twisted wall panels, small fires amongst the rubble and a thickening black smoke that didn't seem to be getting any closer. He noticed Breeze's green outline hovering a foot or so away from the smoke, and realized she must've been keeping it back with some kind of wind arte. A splash and hiss of steam caught his attention. Misty was nearby, using aqua edge spells on the small fires before they could build any more.

Trying to sit up again, he felt a renewed pain in his left arm and leg. His sleeve had been rolled up and there was a bloodstained blue cloth wrapped around the middle of his forearm. The lower left part of his robe had been burned away. It took him a moment to realize the blackened leg he was looking at wasn't his pant leg, that had been taken by the fire as well. He quickly looked away, feeling sick at the sight of it.

A clatter came from the smoke, and Wisp flew out of it, passing by Breeze. A moment later someone in a mask emerged, dragging a second person with them. The first caught sight of Nemo and peeled off their mask. It was Oriana.

"Good to see you're still alive." She said, laying the person she had been dragging next to him and taking off their mask as well. Philia was conscious, but only barely. She seemed to be in a daze, mumbling about repairs. Oriana sighed. "She must have hit her head or something. Damn."

"What... what happened?" Nemo asked, feeling another twinge of pain in his arm.

"I was hoping you could tell me." She glared at Nemo. "What the hell were you doing in the engine room!? I saw you screwing around with something right before the blast!"

"I-I wasn't screwing around with anything!" He said quickly. "The one guy asked me to help since-"

"Remus? That fool! I told him to wait, he didn't listen and now the idiot went and got himself killed!" She stood up, grabbing a broken pipe from a nearby pile of scrap. "We have to get out of here, and since Philia's out of it, I'll need your help to get her through."

Nemo just stared, trying to take it all in. His mind was reeling, but a burning engine room was no place to calmly try to figure things out. He did his best to focus on what was important; escaping alive. "How can we get out?"

"After looking around, I think we only have one option." Oriana walked over to the wall and thrust the pipe into it at waist-height. She pushed the pipe upwards and pried away a panel on the wall.

Nemo craned his neck to get a better look, it was a vent for hot air to escape the engine room, just large enough for them to crawl into.

"The system runs all through the ship, and to the outside. If there's an unblocked path, we might have a chance." Oriana explained, looking inside. "Hope you're not afraid of tight spaces."

"No..." He took a deep breath, glancing from Oriana to the vent. "...but something tells me I might be before this madness is over."


	11. Smoked

Schimmel slowed to a stop, looking from a sign on the wall to the crumbling staircase leading up. Smoke obscured the upper half, but that wasn't going to stop him. He pulled his shirt collar over his nose and mouth before dashing up the stairs.

Chat caught up with him just in time to see his legs vanish into the thick smoke. "What the hell is this kid thinking?!" She snapped to nobody in particular. Then noticed the sign. The stairs led up to the observation deck, which was probably smashed and would offer them a way out. That is, if the hatch they used to seal it during landing wasn't bent into place after the crash.

She rushed up the stairs, bumping into Schimmel at the top since she couldn't see anything in the smoke. She reached up for the security hatch, finding the smooth steel and running her fingers along it until she reached the left side. Her lungs started to burn from holding her breath so long as he groped around for the control mechanism, finally finding the keypad. She got a feel for where each key was before typing in the code, hoping she got it right the first time.

Gears whirred and a loud grinding met her ears as the door strained to slide open. She heard a hiss of air and broken glass begin to fall, knowing it must have been from the observation deck, the dome had to have been shattered from the crash. The smoke slowly started to clear, and she saw Schimmel backing down the staircase, away from the falling glass.

The door came to an abrupt stop, beginning to make a metallic screech in protest of opening any further. Chat swore, grabbing Schimmel by the wrist and pulling him back up the stairs. The screeching ceased as the door started to close again, but by that time they were already halfway though. It shut with a heavy clang behind them.

Shards of glass covered the deck, the glass dome having been totally destroyed. It crunched underfoot as Chat walked to the edge, noticing a group of people in the distance. She turned to Schimmel to say something, then remembered he couldn't understand a word she said. He was looking around at the wreckage, his face pale.

"Nemo said he was going up here for the landing..." He muttered, pushing some glass with his foot. "if he was here..."

"He couldn't be. My crewmen check up here and seal off the deck before we land or take off. Nobody was up here when we crashed." Chat said, but Schimmel just looked rather vacantly at her. He still must not have been able to understand. She sighed, walking over to him and grabbing his hand. "Come on, we have to find anyone else that made it out. With any luck, we'll find your friend with the survivors... and someone that can play translator for me."

Schimmel followed silently as Chat led him to the twisted metal of the hull they could use to climb down to the ground. _Fae, Nemo... please be okay._

---

A scream brought Fae to her senses. She tried to sit up and see what was happening, forgetting how badly she was hurt until she moved. After holding back a scream of her own and taking a few breaths, she tried to focus her energy into a healer spell, but didn't even have the strength for that.

"What the hell are these things?!" Someone cried out, getting her attention.

"Behind you!" Another voice yelled. "Look out-" An explosion cut him off, and Fae strained to see what was going on. Her eyes wouldn't focus, but she could tell something was running at her. It leapt into the air and dove at her head. A second before the thing attacking her landed, something collided with the side of it, knocking it to the ground.

"Cowardly beast. Try going after someone that can fight back." Whoever had saved her said. The voice was familiar, but she couldn't place it.

There was a growl as whatever it was lunged at the person, and a flurry of movement. Fae wasn't sure what happened, but one knocked the other to the ground and there was a snap of bone as the shape on the bottom went limp. Fae held her breath, hoping the winner wasn't the monster.

"Pathetic." The person muttered as they rose. That was when Fae realized just who the voice belonged to, even though she couldn't believe it.

"Barbarius, lay down some cover fire and try not to blow up any wounded!" The person yelled, running off.

"Damn it! You're not the one in charge, so stop giving me orders!" Someone yelled.

"Less bitching, more shooting! Now!"

"Arrogant son of a-" The second voice was cut off by an explosion. "Don't be surprised if a few blasts come dangerously close to you, Inferian!"

"I won't be, it's already obvious your aim leaves a lot to be desired." The other countered. "And stop calling me 'Inferian' already. My name's Charles."

"Alright then, _Charles_." He snapped. "Try not to let that one bite you in the ass!"

"Very funny, BarbaaaAAAHHH!" Charles screamed. "You're dead!"

"Tried to warn ya!"

"Shut up!"

Fae's thoughts drifted as she listened to the combat going on around her. _Since when does Charles know how to fight?_

---

Nemo coughed, even though Breeze was still warding off the thickest smoke. He looked down the tunnel at Oriana's lower half as she crawled ahead into the ventilation system. "How much further is it?"

"I have no idea, these vents have been twisted in the impact. It's hard to tell from memory when we keep going over slopes and around curves that weren't in the schematics." She replied. "How are you two doing back there?"

"Oh, as well as you would expect." Nemo said, glancing at Philia. She was still unconscious, dried blood staining her forehead from the gash along her hairline. Oriana had bandaged it, but not taken the time to wipe it clean. In the engine room, it would have been impossible anyway.

Tightening his left arm's grip on Philia, he continued to drag the both of them down the vent with his right. The pain in his left leg was beginning to lessen, but he figured it was only because the nerves had been burned away.

"Damn it. That's all we need." Oriana complained, coming to a stop.

Nemo's head bumped into one of her boots before he did the same. "What now?"

"The metal's twisted, but it's not too thick. I think I can pry open a path for us." She reached into the pouch that was hanging loosely around her waist and removed a small crowbar. "Hold on."

"You always carry one of those around with you?" Nemo inquired.

"Of course. You'd be surprised how many problems can be fixed with a crowbar." She said, ramming it into the metal and going to work.

Philia coughed, groaning as she opened her eyes. She blinked at Nemo a couple times, trying to get her eyes to focus, then realized her glasses were gone. "Remus, what happened?" She asked, looking around in a daze.

Oriana spoke up first. "That's not Remus, the engine went up in flames, and before you ask we're in the ventilation system."

Philia tilted her head in Oriana's general direction. "What caused it?"

"That idiot Remus was working on something he obviously shouldn't have been." Oriana explained, peeling away one of the pieces of metal. "We'll never find out what, though."

"Oh." Philia dropped her head onto the bottom of the vent with a clang. She glanced up at Nemo. "Who are you, and why were you in the engine room?"

"Just a passenger from Mintche. I was in the engine room because I needed a place to hide from my fellow students. Turns out pissing off everyone you know while on a ship is a bad idea." Nemo explained with a laugh, be fore turning to Oriana. "How's the path coming?"

"Almost... got it..." Oriana mumbled, straining to move another of the metal pieces sticking through the vent.

"If I could see anything, I might suggest what you're doing is a bad idea, Ori." Philia said.

"Why's that?"

"Depending on the damage to the vent, inner workings and the positioning of the twisted metal, what you're disturbing might be the only thing-"

There was a loud creaking as Oriana finally got the piece she had been working on to bend. but it didn't come from the piece itself, it was from all around them. Oriana looked around as she moved away from where she had been working, hitting both Nemo and Philia in the head with her boots as she did. "What's that?"

"The only thing holding the vent in place." Philia finished.

"I really wish you had mentioned that ten seconds ago." Nemo said, hearing the echo of something snapping come from outside of the vent.

There was a crack and the grinding of metal-on-metal as the vent split in half where Oriana had been working. There was a trio of screams as the group braced themselves against the sides of the vent and plummeted into the unknown.


	12. Crispy

The metal underfoot groaned as it started to bend. Chat leapt off the side of the ship, taking the twenty-foot drop with some pain since after landing on her feet she fell flat on her face. Schimmel landed with a bit more grace, taking the ground at a roll and coming to a stop on one knee. He knew how to take a fall, since he hadn't figured out how to stop himself from tripping on a regular basis.

"You okay?" Schimmel asked, glancing at Chat as she pushed herself up and looked at her ship.

"Better than the Van Eltia." She sighed, looking at the huge gash out of the side. "This is going to take forever to fix. I only hope my crew survived."

A crash echoed from hole the Van Eltia, followed by someone screaming. Twisted pipes and pieces of ventilation began falling from the gap, crashing to the ground nearby in a heap. The duo stared as they heard voices coming from it.

"OW! Damn it, get off of me!"

"I would, but the vent's crushed. I can't budge."

"Sorry... I can't either."

Chat hurried over to the pile of metal, tossing some of the pipes aside. "Oriana, Philia! Is that you?!"

"Captain? Yes, it's us! Get us out of here! I can't breathe under these two!" Oriana cried out.

"Is she saying we're overweight?" Nemo wondered.

"If so, I'll have to hit her. She knows I haven't enough time to eat, let alone to gain weight." Philia said.

"Nemo, are you in there too?!" Schimmel yelled, helping Chat dig them out.

"Schimmel? Glad to hear you're okay. What happened to Fae and the other students?"

"I wish I knew. It's just me and the Captain out here." The last piece of ventilation fell to the side and they looked into the vent the voices were coming from. The trio was wedged in a half-crushed vent, stacked on top of each other. Oriana on the bottom, Nemo's back pressing against her stomach and Philia topping them off, looking very dazed.

"Hold on, I'll find something to cut it open with." Chat said, running off.

"Are you really alright?" Schimmel asked, sitting down. Since the Captain had gone for help, he thought it'd be better to keep them company. Not to mention he could actually understand one of them.

"As well as you'd expect after being blown up and dropped through the inner workings of a ship." Nemo sighed, trying to move his left leg and getting little response from it.

"Look at it this way, you'll have something interesting to tell Tristan and James when you get back to Inferia. Tristan especially." He grinned. "I bet he'd kill to be in that position."

"If it wasn't for the bag of tools driving into my back, along with the noisy owner of said tools, I'd be happier about it." Nemo said, trying to shift is weight off Oriana's crowbar.

"What are you implying?" Oriana asked, stopping her struggles to escape for a moment.

"That if it weren't for you, I'd be able to find some enjoyment in this situation."

Even if dazed, Philia's face went a bit red at the comment. "W-what?"

"You touch her and I'll put my crowbar somewhere REALLY uncomfortable, Inferian!" Oriana snapped.

"Please, I'm not like Tristan." Nemo scoffed. "Hell, if I was, you'd probably be in more trouble. He usually goes after the tougher girls. That's why he likes Fae."

Tristan has a thing for Fae? I didn't know that..." Schimmel said, leaning over. "...I've never seen him try anything with her, either."

"Because he knows she can and will kick his ass if he does. Plus Fae's not interested."

"How do you know that?"

"I asked, of course."

"Is this really the time to be talking about such things?" Philia asked.

"Not like we can do much else." Nemo pointed out. "Where's the Captain, anyway?"

"Oh, she's... um..." Schimmel stood up, looking around. "...she's gone."

"What?!" Oriana shouted. "She can't be! The Captain wouldn't just abandon us here!"

"Hold on, I'll go find her." Schimmel said, heading toward the gathering he could see in the distance.

"Don't you dare forget about us!" Nemo yelled as his friend sprinted off.

---

Barbarius stared down at the charred monster corpse and sighed. "Damn it, I really wish killing them hadn't been the only way."

"You'd rather they ate the survivors?" Charles asked, stepping up beside him.

"Of course not. It's just... oh, forget it." Barbarius shouldered his Craymel Rifle, looking around. Van Eltia crewmen that were still in fairly good health were tending to the injured, as were some of the other soldiers in his unit.

"Hey, you alright?" Charles asked.

Barbarius turned to say yes, but noticed the question had been directed to a bloodied girl on the ground.

She looked up at Charles and grinned weakly. "The stuck-up Charles Byrd a fighter. I never would have believed it."

"A true scholar should be well-versed in all things." He replied simply. "Now answer me, Fae. How are you feeling?"

"Like I was blown up."

"As you should, then." Charles rubbed his right shoulder, grumbling. "Damn I'm out of practice. These things are on a different level than what I'm used to."

"Maybe you should stick to books, then." Barbarius suggested.

"And maybe you should do something more than stand around like a useless lump." Charles countered. "You're a Celestian soldier, aren't you? Lend a hand."

"I've never been good at first aid. Making wounds is easier, anyway." He said, staring off into the distance and thinking he could see someone coming from the direction of the wreckage.

"Useless." Charles muttered as he walked off to check on other students.

Ignoring the opinion, Barbarius headed toward the figure in the distance. If someone was coming from that smashed ship, there might be more people left alive. At least he could help with evacuating them.

---

Schimmel waved and slowed to a stop as a Celestian man came into shouting distance. The man was a little taller than him, and a lot more muscular, but he didn't look much older. Judging by the uniform and large weapon on his shoulder, the guy had to be part of the Celestian Army. "Hey, big guy! Can you give me a hand?"

The soldier nodded, saying something that might have been a question. It was a little hard to tell.

Schimmel stared blankly at him for a moment, then tapped the Orz Earring that still hadn't started working for him. "Oh come on, how am I supposed to find help if I can't understand anyone?"

"What do you need help with?" The soldier asked, possibly for the second time.

Schimmel blinked. "Hey, I understood that. This thing does work!"

"No, no... I'm speaking Inferian. It's part of basic training. The language is not that difficult, really." He explained.

"Oh, right." He mumbled, scratching his head and wondering if the earring was useless after all. "A friend of mine and a couple of crewmen are stuck, and I lost track of the Captain... can you help me get them out?"

"Helping's what I'm here for." The soldier said, running by Schimmel and heading for the wreckage. "I'm Barbarius, by the way."

"Schimmel. It's nice to meet a Celestian I can actually communicate with." He said, following behind Barbarius.

---

"Where the _hell_did you run off to?!" Chat snapped, trying to pry the vent apart with a pipe as the duo approached. "Stupid Inferian can't stay in one place for five minutes..."

"What'd she say?" Schimmel asked, looking at Barbarius.

"You're probably better off not knowing." He replied, shaking his head and going over to help. "Let me do that."

Chat glared at him, but took a step back. The second he pulled a combat knife from his belt was when she quickly got between him and the vent. "Hold on one minute there, I'm not going to let you risk adding any more injuries to my engineers by cutting blindly!"

"I'm not going to go straight down the middle, if that's what you're suggesting." He said, stepping around her and crouching by the vent. Glancing inside he grinned. "Should I get you out now, or come back later?" He asked with a laugh after seeing their position.

"Just start cutting, damn it!" Oriana shouted.

"Anyway you can take the noisy one and then come back later?" Nemo asked, trying to shift his weight off the tool poking his back.

"Sorry, it's all or nothing. All of you try to get to one side." He said, stabbing the knife through the metal and sliding the blade down the side of the interior. It didn't take long to get all the way down, giving Chat and Schimmel the easier job of bending the sheet on top back and freeing them.

Barbarius carefully picked up Philia, who had passed out again at some point during the rescue, and flinched upon seeing the student underneath her. "That... looks horrible." He muttered.

"Holy crap." Schimmel gasped, noticing the blackened thing attached to his friend that used to be a limb. "Nemo, what happened to your leg?!"

"I was in the engine room when it went up, what do you think happened?" Nemo replied, offering a hand to Schimmel. "Help me up, would you? I'm tired of being stuck to the unpleasant thing that attached itself to my back."

"The feeling's mutual, trust me. If you weren't hurt I would have thrown you off the second Philia was moved." Oriana said as the student was lifted off her."What's making that noise, anyway? The ship?"

"Noise?" Barbarius wondered, listening. It didn't take him long to hear the low, steady sound and recognize it. "Oh shit. More of them, now?!" He shouted, turning to face the monsters that had surrounded them while they were focused on helping the trapped trio.

"Quite the welcoming party." Nemo commented. "Think you can handle them without my backup, Schim?"

"With what, exactly?" Schimmel asked. "I couldn't bring my sword on the ship."

"Oh, yeah. I forgot." Nemo mumbled. "We survive being blown up, only to get eaten. Great. Why did I want to come to this planet again?"

"Good question..." Schimmel said as the first wave of beasts charged at them. "...if we live through this, I'll expect a straight answer to it."


	13. Lucky

"Back off!" Oriana yelled, bringing down her crowbar on the beast's head. There was a loud crack and it dropped to the ground, blood coming from its ears.

"They remind me of the Night Raids on Inferia..." Nemo commented from his spot on the ground where Schimmel had let him drop. "...only tougher."

"Maybe if I had a weapon it wouldn't look that way." Schimmel said, dashing to the side as one lunged at him.

Barbarius sent a pair of the monsters flying with a burst of fire from his rifle. "Maybe you should get back. In my opinion, you scholarly types aren't very good at fighting."

"If I could stand, I'd kick your ass for that." Nemo said, holding up one hand. "I'll have to settle for this, though. Fireball!"

"Wha... whoa!" Barbarius glanced back just in time to see a trio of flaming spheres soaring toward him. He dove out of the way and the attack connected with one of the beasts, knocking it to the ground. "Are you insane?!"

"Yes, now pay attention to the enemy before you get your face ripped off!" Nemo snapped, looking over his shoulder at Chat, who was supposedly guarding him and Philia should any of the monsters come after them. Right now she seemed more interested in the pile of scrap nearby. "Captain, what are you doing back there?"

"Got it." Chat grinned, pulling a length of slightly bent pipe from the wreckage. "Inferian, catch!" She yelled, throwing the pipe in Schimmel's direction.

Schimmel kicked one of the beasts in the jaw and it staggered backwards while he turned to grab the pipe as it fell, spinning back around and shattering the monster's skull with as sickening crunch before it could recover. "Thanks, Captain!" He called out, swinging at another that had been trying to get behind him.

"Captain, look out!" Oriana cried.

Chat went to grab something to use as a weapon after noticing the beast charging at her, but hesitated when two rings of light flew around its head. The rings shrunk, disappearing into the monster's head and the side of it neck suddenly exploded. The beast let out a sharp cry and rolled a couple feet before coming to a dead stop.

"What the hell was that?" Chat wondered, staring down at the corpse.

"That was the newest addition to my arsenal, brought to you by Wisp." Nemo said, another pair of light-rings appearing above his right hand. "Photon!" The lights flew at one of the beasts attacking Oriana, encircling its front leg and converging on a small dot of light between them, exploding when they came in contact.

"Watch where you're aiming, idiot!" Oriana shouted, avoiding some of the blood-splatter from the blast. The ground suddenly erupted under the feet of three beasts, sending dirt, flames and gore into the air. Most of it hit Oriana, and she fell over screaming. "What did I just tell you, damn it?!"

"It wasn't me!"

"Reinforcements!" Barbarius yelled, seeing a few members of his battalion rushing over to help. "Am I glad to see you guys!"

"The Commander said not to go off alone, you really need to start listening to him!" One of them shouted back, taking a shot at one of the monsters attacking Schimmel. "It's not nice hogging all the fun for yourself!"

"I'll keep that in mind next time!"

---

"What the hell happened in there?" Chat demanded once the group had met up with the rest of the survivors. The question had been directed at Oriana, but Nemo spoke first.

"Remus was working on something and it exploded." He explained, watching one of the medics that had come with Barbarius' unit examine his charred leg.

"What could he have been working on to cause that?" Schimmel wondered, resting the pipe on his shoulder.

"How should I know?" Nemo shrugged. "I had to hold down some lever so he could get to the thing, though."

"You what?!" Chat and Oriana snapped.

"I take it that's a bad thing."

"Damn it, why was he screwing with the central systems?" Oriana wondered. "Damn you, Remus. You had to go and get yourself blown up before you could explain anything, didn't you?"

"I can't believe this." Chat growled, walking off. Oriana hurried after her.

"It as bad as it looks, Heath?" Barbarius asked the medic.

"The damage is too extensive." Heath muttered, shaking his head. "Maybe if I had been there right away I could have helped, but after so long... I think taking him to Zircha is the best option."

"Zircha?" Nemo wondered, looking at the Celestian.

"He's a Doctor in Tinnisia, he's a bit odd but great at what he does." Heath explained, moving on to tending the scrapes Schimmel got during the fight.

"If he's that skilled, I doubt I have the gald to afford him." Nemo grumbled, staring at his leg for a moment. "Besides, Tinnisia's not even on the same continent as Lushika. I'd rather not have to go out of the way and miss the start of classes."

"I wouldn't worry about it being a detour, you're going to have to go through Tinnisia anyway." Barbarius pointed out.

"What?"

"You'll have to get a ship from there to Lushika." Heath added. "It's not far from here."

"You're telling me... we not only crashed... we crashed on the wrong freaking landmass? Son of a-" The final word was replaced by a grunt as Nemo dropped onto his back.

"My sentiments exactly." A stern voice chimed in. "I knew you were capable of causing chaos, but this is a record."

Nemo sighed. "Hello, Charles. Here to add insult to injury, are you?"

"Normally I would, but I actually came over to help. A few caravans arrived to transport the survivors that can't walk back to town. That includes you, by the look of things."

"That's nice, but I don't plan on going anywhere yet. Not until Fae and the other students turn up."

"Fae's already on the first transport, and I've been keeping track of who I see. You and James here are the last ones unaccounted for." He reported. "Half of them are in bad shape, but nobody's dead yet. That's why we have to hurry and get back to Tinnisia, so the injured can get treatment that isn't pulled out of a box."

"Hey!" Heath snapped. "The Celestian Army's medic kit is-"

"Ill-equipped to handle all the passengers and crew of a wrecked ship, now shut up and help move them." Charles said as he turned and walked off to the next group that needed help.

"What a jerk." Heath muttered.

Nemo nodded. "He does give that impression to people."

---

Although it seemed like nobody would notice given the situation, Schimmel kept his mouth shut around Charles and the other students so he wouldn't be able to say anything that would blow his cover. He just kept close to Nemo and Fae during the trip and did his best not to get lost the wave of people that took all the injured away when they arrived in Tinnisia. The only time he spoke was to one of the medical personnel when nobody else was around, who regarded his request for a moment before giving him a smile, nod and darting off to help with the chaos.

Three or four hours later, he was in a chair between two beds with his head resting on the wall. The left bed's occupant had been unconscious since arriving, and the bed to his right was empty for the moment. The person on the bed groaned, shifted a little and let out a gasp of pain.

"Careful, Fae." Schimmel said, sitting a little straighter. "You broke a few bones in the crash, so don't try to move much."

"Schimmel? You're okay?" She tilted her head to look at him, ignoring the discomfort in her neck. "Thank goodness... what about everyone else?"

"Charles is helping the only way he knows how, arrogantly. Those two, Nikolai and Elli, are in the next room. Nick's fine but Elli's in worse shape than you, she should make it though." He explained. "I don't know the names of anyone else, but they're all in fair condition given the circumstances. The only known fatalities were an engineer, three other crewmen and a couple passengers."

She glared with what little effort she could put behind it. "And?"

"And...?"

Fae sighed. "Don't give me that, damn it. What about Nemo?"

"Oh, you saw him on the way here, but I guess you were too out of it to remember. He's-"

Someone outside the room shouted. "That's because you didn't specify _what_ kind of specialist he was you son of a bitch!"

A Celestian man backed into the room, wheeling the shouter inside. Schimmel recognized him as the field medic that gave them a once-over before they left for town. "I thought you'd know! Besides, he's not a lunatic! He's made great progress in his field!"

"That doesn't change the fact that if I see him again, I'm gonna let Flare torch his ass!"

Heath turned to Schimmel, not bothering to hide the irritation in his voice. "Your friend is going to be well enough, provided I leave before I snap. Please excuse me." He said, walking quickly out of the room.

"What was that all about?" Schimmel wondered as Nemo stood up, wobbled a bit and sat down on the bed.

"Zircha's a butcher dressed up like a doctor, that's what." He replied, glancing over his shoulder.

Schimmel blinked at him. "Really? Heath seemed to think he'd be able to help."

Nemo gave a harsh laugh. "Help. Hell. I could have gotten the same kind of help from those night raid wannabes that attacked us at the crash site."

"Nemo, I'm glad you're in one piece, but either make your point or be quiet, okay?" Fae muttered, shifting just enough to look at him. "My head's pounding enough right now without you adding to it."

He snorted, but lowered his voice. "My point, Fae…" Turning and bracing himself on the bed, he pulled up his patient gown and raised his left leg so she and Schimmel could see it. At least they could have, if it hadn't stopped at a stumped bandage three inches below his kneecap. "…is that I'm not in one piece anymore."


	14. Luishka

Schimmel's eye twitched as he stared at the board. Although it looked like what was written up there used Inferian characters, the words themselves were total gibberish to him. Once this day was over, he was going to visit Nemo, smack him over the head with the eight-freaking-hundred page book he needed for _one_ class, and demand the idiot that got him dragged here explain Craymel Theory again using smaller words. How the hell he was supposed to pass as a so-called prodigy like James was beyond him.

Once the last class finally ended, his head was pounding and all he wanted to do was kill a few monsters for some much-needed stress relief. Unfortunately, all his swords were back on Inferia in Tristan's care, which worried him to no end. Going back to find them all blunt, rusted and broken was the last thing he wanted, but Tristan did need something to fight with. After the lessons in handling and maintenance, along with explicit instructions to _never_ touch the one in the crate under his bed, he had some hope that his collection wouldn't be destroyed. Still...

"Inferian Freshman attack!" Someone behind him cried out, and a heavy weight dropped onto his shoulders. Staggering forward and trying not to fall on his face, he grabbed the back of a bench he was passing to steady himself. Trying to steady his breathing from the surprise and sudden weight, noticing the pair of slender, dark and distinctly _female_ legs draped down his chest, his face heated up and natural breathing became nearly impossible.

"Ohh, you stayed upright! I'm impressed, most guys here end up eating the dirt." The girl on his shoulders said brightly. She leaned forward, bending enough to look at him upside-down. Her black hair drifted in the breeze and the equally black elara on her forehead looked like a raindrop from his current view. "Good reflexes, fairly strong, cute... I knew that exchange program was worth it!"

"C-Cute?" Schimmel stuttered.

Another girl's voice came from behind him. "Are you going to torment all the Inferian students like this?"

"Only the male ones. Just to see how well they take it. This one's given the best reaction so far, I think." The girl on his shoulders sat back up. "I figured you'd have wanted to meet more Inferians too, Zee."

"If I had wanted to meet more of them, I would have gone to Inferia as part of the exchange program when the Headmaster offered me the chance." The other stated.

"Ohh, don't remind me! I was one of the FIRST to apply for that and they didn't pick me!" She pouted. "Still, it's not so bad now that I've found one that doesn't freak out or fling me into a bush!" Leaning back down to look at his face, she smiled. "Then again, he _does_ look pretty freaked. Maybe not many people greet him like this on Inferia."

The other girl, apparently Zee, sighed as she stepped into view. "Aya, I am pretty sure you are the only person on either planet that would greet someone new by jumping on them. Which makes me wonder about your origins." She said, running her fingers through the strands of long, purple hair that fell all the way to her stomach.

"What, tell and ruin my mysteriousness? Not a chance, Zee. You're brainy, figure it out for yourself." Aya said, grinning at her friend.

"That would take lifelong dedication, and I have more interesting projects to oversee." Zee replied with a smirk.

"Meanie." She stuck out her tongue at Zee and tugged on Schimmel's hair. "Come on, Inferian. Let's leave miss brainiac to her studies and go do something _fun_."

"Er... fun...?" Schimmel wondered, his mind running through various possibilities that made his face turn even redder.

Zee crossed her arms. "Did you forget why I even pointed him out to you?"

"Hey, if you're trying to say you saw him first, too bad. I got dibs." Aya ruffled his hair playfully and he gulped.

"Would you stop being yourself for five minutes and be quiet?" She said, turning her attention to Schimmel and straightening her glasses. "Sorry about my crazy friend, but I am trying to find the Inferian that was crippled in the accident. He was _supposed_ to stay in the clinic until new housing arrangements could be made and his prosthetic leg arrived from Tinnisia, but he is not there."

"Oh, you're looking for Nemo?" Schimmel said, trying to get his mind off what was weighing him down. "Since my room's made for two and I didn't have a roommate assigned, he set himself up in there."

"I see... which room is it?"

"I was just headed back there myself, I'll show you. If you might give me a hand first..." He pointed up at the girl on his shoulders.

Zee nodded. "Aya, down."

Aya bent to look at him again. "How about this, I'll get off you if you do something for me."

Schimmel raised an eyebrow at her. "What sort of... something?"

She smiled, and for some reason he began to think he didn't want to know the answer.

Turning the page of his book and trying to cross his legs out of habit for the tenth time, Nemo groaned in frustration, trying to reposition himself on the bed so he wouldn't do it again. There was a knock at the door and he started to rise, only to think better of it. This whole one-legged thing was becoming an endless headache.

"Who is it?" He called out, marking his page and setting the book down.

"Room service!" A familiar voice answered.

Nemo rolled his eyes. "Funny, Fae. Just come in, I'm not going to try and crutch my way over to the door for you."

The door swung open and Fae stepped inside. Her left arm was still in a sling, bandages were wrapped around her head and right leg, and there were undoubtedly even more healing wounds covered by her surprisingly frilly white dress. "Hey, I am bringing you room service, so don't be a jerk." She said, holding up a bag. "You should be happy I'm doing this much since it was your stupid idea that got us here in the first place."

"Yeah, and I've already paid a leg for it, don't you think that's enough?" He snapped.

She looked away, a sad frown growing across her face as she walked over and placed the bag on his lap. "Right... sorry."

Rubbing his forehead where the tension had built up, he sighed. "No, I'm sorry. Ever since unexpectedly dropping those few pounds last week I've been lashing out at everyone."

"Don't worry about it... I'm sure it's not easy... and besides..." She gave him a weak smile. "...you were a big enough ass at times with two legs it's probably hard for most people to notice a difference."

"Ha ha." Opening the bag, he blinked a couple times to make sure his eyes weren't going odd. "Fae, how many sandwiches did you make?"

"A little over a dozen. I figured Schimmel would be burnt out from classes again today and need another explanation on Craymel Theory, so with all those we could eat while we helped him try to figure it out."

Nemo shrugged. "You're more optimistic than me... after the third go, I've been pretty convinced it's too deep for him. I mean, he was brought up in the woods for crying out loud."

"Hey, I was brought up in Rasheans and it's not exactly a hub of information either!"

"Oh please, with your family you had access to more stuff than most people. Hell, you've got sword training, come up with plans that don't normally fail, you did well at Regulus Dojo from what I hear, you've got a knack for mechanics, and you're one of the highest ranked students at Mintche like Charles and, for some insane reason, that red-haired skirt chaser."

Moving his book to the bedside table, Fae took a seat next to him. "I'm not good at everything, like you seem to be suggesting."

"Name one thing you're bad at then."

"I'm a horrible cook."

"Now I _know_ you're being daft." Nemo said, biting into one of the sandwiches. "These aren't cooked exactly, but they're good. Plus there was that amazing stew you made to celebrate getting through finals last year."

"Actually I bought those... there's a deli just outside the Academy grounds." She explained. "As for the stew, I didn't make it, Schimmel did. I just carried it so he wouldn't trip and spill it everywhere."

He just stared at her for a moment. "That klutz can cook without setting anything on fire? I never would have guessed."

"A few problems come up occasionally... or they turn out to be a disaster." She grinned. "Like this one time when he was trying to bake-" The door clicked open and she quickly stopped talking as Schimmel stepped inside.

"Hey, Nemo, I-" Catching sight of Fae, he came to a sudden stop. "Uh... Fae? What the hell are you wearing?"

She glared at him. "Unlike you, my clothes were ruined in the crash. I haven't had the chance to go shopping, so my roommate let me borrow this."

"Uh... huh..." He mumbled, staring at her.

"More comments?" She inquired.

"Just that you in a dress is one of the last things I ever expected to see. It doesn't look natural at all." He shrugged, gesturing to someone outside. "It's fine, come on in."

Fae raised an eyebrow at the girl that walked in. She could be summed up in a word; short. Her black hair, pants and shirt that barely reached the top of her stomach. The top of her head was a little less than level with Schimmel's shoulders, and he wasn't even six feet tall. The only sizable thing about her was the grin across her face.

"So this is where the Inferians were hiding!" She slapped Schimmel on the shoulder. "What was the point of coming to Celestia if you're all gonna hole up together? You gotta mingle a bit! Get some culture shock or something!"

"Aya, do not be rude." A second girl with silver glasses, this one just as tall as Schimmel, said as she entered. Skin tone aside, she was almost the opposite of the first, her light purple hair reaching nearly to the waist of her long white dress. "I apologize for interrupting anything, but I have been trying to find _him_."

Nemo blinked as she pointed at him. "If you're here to take me back to that hospital, forget it. I lost a limb at the last one, I don't want to risk something else getting chopped off while I'm asleep there."

"I can understand that, but it honestly does not concern me where you are staying, provided I know the location so I can avoid having to ask around for two hours again before finding you." She said, walking over to the desk near Nemo's bed and taking a seat on the chair.

"In that case, I have to ask. Why, exactly, are you trying to keep tabs on me?"

"I heard about what happened and how intent you were on coming here for classes, only to not be able to get to them since whenever you try to use your crutches you end up hurting either yourself, someone else, or the decor of whatever room you are occupying." She explained. "I simply volunteered my services."

"What, you're a nurse?"

"Of course not, though I will be visiting you regularly until you're back on your feet... or foot, in this case. I will be your tutor."

"Tutor?" He repeated, not sure what to think of the idea.

"You're in good hands, Zee's one of the best students in the Academy!" Aya proclaimed.

"You sure you want to do this?" Fae asked. "I mean, Nemo can be a grouch on a good day, but lately-"

"Glad to see you think so highly of me." Nemo grumbled.

"Do not worry about it, Fae." Zee said, giving her a little smile. "I have dealt with his type before."

"You two already know each other?" Schimmel wondered as he put away his books.

"Fae is my roommate."

"You declined the offer to go to Inferia, and then you get an Inferian as a roommate?! You're so lucky, Zee! I got stuck with some buff, red-haired chick that could pass for a man easily... she even has a freaking _axe_ mounted on the wall for decoration." Aya crossed her arms, looking at Schimmel. "Actually, you want to swap roommates, Nemo? I bet James here could make a convincing girl with the right dress and hairstyle."

"W-what?!" Schimmel exclaimed, looking horrified at the thought.

"It's tempting, but I think someone would notice. Besides, he doesn't snore that loudly. If I was stuck with Fae on the other hand- OW!" Nemo rubbed his arm where Fae had smacked him. "What was that for? It's not my fault your snoring could be mistaken for a congested eggbear."

Considering giving him another whack, Fae decided against it, got up and headed to the door. "If you're going to be like that, I'm going to go buy some new clothes so I don't have to keep wearing borrowed stuff."

"I'll go with you." Schimmel said quickly. "Since this place doesn't have a dress code like Mintche, I want out of this robe."

"I can help you with that." Aya smirked, and Schimmel nearly ran out of the room behind Fae. "Aw, James, it was a joke!" She yelled, hurrying after them. "Wait up you two! I know this great clothing shop with Inferian designs!"

The door swung shut behind her, and Nemo chuckled. "Poor guy... is she always like that?"

Zee smiled. "Yes, she is very strange. I have a running theory that she is actually from a galaxy far, far away... but solid evidence aside from the obvious is lacking."

After sharing a laugh, Nemo turned so his back was resting against his bed's headboard. "Alright then, if you're going to be my tutor, what should I call you? Teacher? Miss? Zee?"

"It does not matter to me what name or title you decide to use."

"Let's go with names then... people that are too formal tend to aggravate me." He muttered, thinking of Charles. "I'm curious though, what kind of a name is Zee? No offense, but it just sounds odd."

"Nemo does not strike me as normal either."

He rolled his eyes. "If you ever met my Mother, you'd know why. She's pretty far from normal herself."

"Strange names and people are to be found everywhere it seems. You met Aya, she is the one that gave me the nickname Zee, since some take issue with my given name." She explained.

"I doubt I'll have a problem with it, a name's a name to me, even if it's odd. I just feel the need to point it out at first, like with Schimmel. That sure isn't your average name."

Zee tilted her head. "Schimmel?"

"Oh... uh... friend of mine from Inferia. You'd probably like him. Aya definitely would." He said with a grin. "Anyway, what's your given name? I promise I won't laugh if it's something outright absurd. Of course if I can't hold up to that promise, just tell Fae and she'll probably be happy to pound me for being insensitive."

"As you wish." She said, grinning. "My name is Shizel."


	15. Pegged

"Ow! What was that for?"

"Pent up spite, since this is your fault."

"MY fault? How the hell is it my fault?"

"It was your idea to see that lunatic in the first place."

"I'm not-"

The door to the dorm room clicked open and Shizel stepped inside, raising an eyebrow at the pair of them. "I heard quite the commotion from outside... is everything well, Nemo?"

Blinking at the newcomer, the man kneeling at Nemo's bedside returned his attention to what he had been doing. "Well, that explains why you wanted me gone so fast. I'm interrupting your date."

The bedridden student smacked him over the head with a book, again. "Shut up, Heath."

"Damn it! You're lucky this isn't the hospital or I'd have strapped you to the bed to stop you from hitting me!" He snapped, doubling his working pace. "Oh, who am I kidding... you'd probably have just kicked me then. I don't know why the hell I volunteered to do this just because my unit was passing through."

Ignoring the medic's complaints, Nemo shook his head. "Everything's fine in here, Shizel. Just finally getting what I've been waiting for."

"A target?" Heath wondered.

"That too."

Shizel nodded in understanding. "Your leg has finally arrived from Tinnsia and this is the unfortunate man that has to put up with your irritation."

"Exactly... though leg is a bit of a stretch." Nemo pointed out as Heath took a step back.

"Alright, it's secure. You might want to keep a crutch with you for a while though, since you haven't walked in almost two weeks and this isn't like a real leg." He said, crossing his arms.

"The hell I will." Nemo grumbled, trying to stand up on the crafted metal that now passed for half his left leg. "If I can't walk normally, I'm staying in this room until I don't need the crutch."

"You're just being stubborn." Heath watched as he wobbled a bit, took one step, then almost fell flat on his face. The medic barely caught him in time. "See what I mean? Try with the crutch first."

"If he did that, you would both be on the floor in a matter of seconds." Shizel stated, smirking at both of them.

"You're a riot, Zee." Nemo muttered, dropping back onto his bed. "Forget it, Heath. You go catch up with your unit. I'll try walking later with someone else's help. Preferably someone I don't want to smack upside the head with a rock."

"Works for me." He straightened his unform and headed for the still-open door. "See you around."

"I hope not!" Nemo called after him before the door shut, then turned to Shizel and sighed. "Guess this means the fun's over, huh?"

"Fun?" She wondered, taking a seat next to him.

"You know, the tutoring. The only reason you were here is because I was pretty much stuck in bed, now I can walk again... sort of." He explained, dropping onto his back and staring at the ceiling. "Hopefully the teachers here are as easy to understand. I think I learned more from you the past few days than from a whole semester at Mintche."

"Although I'm sure that is clearly an exaggeration, I am flattered you liked my explanations. Most find them far too detailed." She said with a nod. "Also, while it is true that I no longer have a reason to tutor you, it seems to me you are suggesting we will not see each other again."

"I suppose it does depend on how things go..."

"Your friend Fae is my roommate, one of my closest friends is currently obsessed with _your_ roommate. We have a few classes together and I enjoyed your unusual way of looking at things, even if it made very little sense most of the time." She smiled. "I am sure we will see each other regularly."

Nemo kept his gaze skyward. "Yeah, but will we be on good terms?"

"Why would we not be?"

"Because of what I'm going to say next, I'm not sure what kind of subtext you'll read into it. According to Fae, some people might get the wrong idea. So, before I ask, I'd like to point out I had S... James, check out the normal channels and get stonewalled. That's why I'm bringing this to you."

"Are you asking what I believe you are?" She shifted to look at him and he sat up, a serious expression on his face.

"Most likely, I'm not exactly good at being subtle. If you've already figured it out, guess all I can ask is... what do you say?"

xxx

Schimmel grinned at the tall, green-haired soldier. "Oh man, he seriously went up there? Poor guy. Nemo will _not_ be happy to see him again."

"I know, I told him to let someone else handle it, but he thought maybe your friend's mind might have been changed by now. He's optimistic like that. Stupid, too." Barbarius laughed.

"What brings you through here, anyway? Training?" Fae wondered, leaning against the table they were all sitting around outside one of the local cafes.

"Oh, no... I'm supposed to meet up with my Fa... er... the Commander at our base near here. New orders or something." Barbarius explained.

Schimmel raised an eyebrow. "The Commander of the whole Celestian Army is out here?"

Fae shook her head. "Don't be silly, James. I'm sure it's just whoever leads the part Barbarius is in."

"No, he's right." The soldier corrected. "Commander Fog isn't exactly one for protocol, he gets bored sitting around HQ and insists on seeing some action. Lucky for him he has someone back there to look after things."

"Sounds like an-"

A cheery girl's voice interrupted her. "Oh Jaaaaaaames!" Schimmel braced himself as she plowed into him from behind, her arms wrapping around him in a rough hug.

He just sighed. "Afternoon, Aya."

"Are you planning to take me out again anytime soon or not? I'm beginning to think it was a one time thing!" She asked, leaning over his shoulder and grinning at him.

"A girlfriend already? Damn, you Inferians work fast." Barbarius commented with a smirk.

"It's not like that, I only went out with her to get her off my back... literally." Schimmel muttered as she let him go.

Aya sat down at the empty chair across from Fae, smirking at him. "In that case, I'll have to get back up there until you submit to me."

"I wouldn't mind seeing that." Barbarius chuckled.

"Don't encourage her." Fae scolded him, though failed to keep the amusement out of her own voice.

Aya stared at Schimmel curiously. "It's nice to see you out of that old robe, but what's with the necklace?"

"It's not a necklace." He replied, holding up the pink seashell hanging around his neck and looking at it. "It's a good luck charm, I've had it forever. I usually had to wear it under that robe since I had to blend in, but here it doesn't matter."

"You had to blend in...?" Barbarius wondered.

"Oh, uh..."

"Mintche's dress code is really strict." Fae said quickly. "Means he had to blend in with the rest of the robes, no jewelery or anything."

"It's that bad there? Wow." Aya leaned back, crossing her arms. "I'm almost glad I didn't get to go then. I wouldn't have been able to stand wearing something like that."

"I suppose not... you seem to prefer wearing next to nothing." Barbarius pointed out.

She winked at him. "Don't tell me you don't enjoy the view, either."

Fae rolled her eyes at them and caught sight of a familiar soldier stomping past them. "Hey Barbarius, isn't that the guy from your unit?"

He glanced at the man and nodded. "Yep, looks like he's done with your friend. Hey, Heath!" The medic kept moving, sidestepping people only a second before crashing into them. Barbarius sighed. "Oh boy, he's in a mood again. Better go stop him before there's some collateral damage."

"Alright. We'll go see how Nemo's doing." Fae suggested, getting up as he did.

"Good idea." Schimmel agreed, heading off and hoping Aya might follow Barbarius instead. The hope was crushed as a familiar weight dropped onto his shoulders, but he kept walking regardless of it.

xxx

Nemo tapped his foot more out of nervousness than impatience. Although this is what he wanted, he hadn't meant right that second when asking Shizel. There was no time to mentally prepare for the encounter.

The office door clicked open and Shizel gave him a nod, gesturing for him to enter. Awkwardly struggling with the crutch as he got up, he was able to make it to the doorway before almost collapsing, Shizel catching him as he cursed to himself.

Focusing on the task at hand and doing everything possible to not come off as some sort of lame comedy act, he took a couple deep breaths and steadied himself in front of the mound of books that must have been hiding the desk.

The man on the other side of it assessed him quietly, reclining in his chair. "You're very persistant." He commented. "After making numerous inquries to meet with me and failing, you somehow convinced my daughter into helping you meet with me. You had best have a good reason."

Nemo gulped, nodding. "Yes... I do, sir."

"Alright then, let's hear it."

"After noticing something unusual, I've been gathering data for the past few months and looking over previous records. I kept a log of everything here." Nemo removed a thick book from his robe and set it on the countless others piled on the desk. "To summarize what it describes in the simplest terms... Headmaster Zeibel, I believe that Celestia is on it's way to total annihilation."


	16. Theory

"You did not have to put it in such terms, Father." Shizel said after the door had slammed shut behind Nemo.

Keele shook his head. "I don't have time to waste on things I've already gone over with someone ignorant of the whole situation."

Picking up the journal Nemo had left sitting on the desk, Shizel flipped it open. "Then as I understand it, you are not planning to go through his notes?"

"There's no time for such a pointless endeavor." He muttered, going through the other books piled around him. "I have other things to see to right now."

"Very well then. I will see to it myself." She said, turning to leave.

"I'd rather you didn't waste your time on such nonsense either."

"Oh?" She glanced over her shoulder. "I must disagree. I believe if it truly is a waste of time as you suggest, it is better I lose a day or two reading it than Nemo losing five months on something nobody would hear out. I am surprised you do not identify with such a problem, considering the hardships you faced because of your Chain Destruction Theory."

He scowled at that, but said nothing.

"Good day, Father." She said, before heading out the door.

Keele sighed once she was gone, rubbing his forehead. "That girl is far too stubborn... why couldn't she have taken more after her Mother?"

xxx

"He probably went out to try and get used to his new leg." Fae pointed out shortly after they arrived at the dorm room and found it empty.

"After the crutch chaos? He'd stay in here until he was confident he could move without the thing." Schimmel said, going over to the window.

"Zee was coming over to tutor him again, so maybe she talked him into going out." Aya suggested, sitting down on Schimmel's bed. "Then again, maybe Nemo was the one to bring up the idea. He's obviously got a thing for her."

Schimmel leaned against the windowsill, staring out across the campus. "I kind of doubt that."

"Yeah, he's not exactly the outgoing type. I mean, he didn't even have much interest in getting to know me until he found out my last name, and even then it was only because my parents are pretty well-known."

"Oh, he's one of those sorts..." Aya muttered, crossing her arms.

"I'm pretty sure you're getting the wrong idea." Schimmel said, but she ignored him, heading for the door.

"Whatever, I'm gonna go look for them. If he tries to mess with my best friend he's gonna answer to me."

Fae stared as she left. "I don't like the sound of that..."

"Oh please, if they're together they're probably at the library or something. Nemo was going on about checking it out the other night." Schimmel said with a shrug.

"Yeah, but if Aya finds them with the wrong idea in her head..."

"It'll be fine."

She sighed. "How can you sound so sure about that?"

"Easy." Schimmel pointed to something outside the window. "I just spotted Nemo, he's on his way back here. Shizel's not even with him."

"Oh... that's a relief." Fae dropped into the chair by Schimmel's desk. "Hopefully there won't be a fight when he passes Aya then."

He watched for a few seconds more and raised an eyebrow. "I don't think there's much chance of them meeting, he walked right past the entrance to the dorms... is the library in that direction?"

Fae quickly joined him at the window. "Which way is... oh, no, that's in the other direction. Maybe he's just trying to get some practice with the leg."

"I'm pretty sure he'd do that in here, away from people."

"You've got a point..." Fae grabbed Schimmel's arm and pulled him toward the door. "...in that case, something must be wrong. We should see what happened."

"Hey, wait a second!" He exclaimed, trying keep up without tripping. She ignored his objections and he complained under his breath. "Jeez, why are all the girls I know so pushy?"

xxx

Aya balanced on a fencepost along one of the main Academy's walkways, scanning the crowd for any sign of them. It didn't take long for her to catch sight of unmistakable pink hair and she hopped down, dashing through the crowd of students.

"Hey, Zee!" She shouted when she got close.

Shizel glanced up from the book she had been staring at and nodded. "Aya, is something wrong? Your face only tints in that manner when you are flustered."

"I'm not flustered, I'm worried about you!" Aya said quickly. "Are you alright? That Inferian try anything?"

"If you are referring to Nemo, yes. However, it did not go well for him. You see-" She began, before being interrupted.

"That jerk! Next time I see him I'm gonna give him such a kick in the-"

Shizel followed suit, interrupting her. "Aya, you appear to be mistaken in your assumptions. If anyone has earned a kick in your favored punting orifice, it is my Father. Nemo attempted to explain a problem and his ideas concerning it, but Father does have the habit of holding his own ideas above those of others."

"Oh... that's all he tried? I thought... um... nevermind." Aya mumbled, turning her attention to the ground. "Why'd you take him to meet the Headmaster though? Did he really have something that important?"

Shizel closed the book. "Yes, although it is a problem already known by the top minds on both Inferia and Celestia, the theory Nemo added in a later part of his notes may be worth investigating further. I must find him and discuss the idea."

"Well, James and Fae are back at the dorm, I'm sure they'd be willing to help us find him." She said, dashing off. "Come on!"

The dorm building in question wasn't far, Aya skidding to a halt just outside of it and waiting for her friend to catch up. She shook her head, glancing around at the few other students, and noticed two dressed in Inferian designs running toward the Academy's main gate.

Shizel finally caught up and started for the door, only to have Aya stop her. "Hold on Zee, they left. Come on, we gotta catch up!"

"I agree, but may we avoid running? It has been a while since I have gotten much exercise." Shizel said, her breathing already a bit heavy from the sprint.

"Sorry, no can do. They're running and if you want to find Nemo, catching them is your best bet. Remember to breathe like I taught you and you'll be fine!" Aya said brightly, before hurrying after the duo.

Shizel sighed, before taking off at a jog that would hopefully be enough to keep Aya in view, if nobody else.

xxx

"That son of a _bitch_." Nemo growled, heading down the street away from the Academy. "That arrogant, know-it-all..." he continued muttering rude comments about Keele Zeibel as pieces of the conversation played back through his mind.

_"Ah yes, that. You honestly thought you were the first to notice? I've been working on the problem myself for going on three years now." The Headmaster said with a shrug. "With all the resources I have available, a solution is well under way. It's nothing you have to worry about."_

_ "Nothing I have to... I've been putting almost all of my free time into research! The only real sleep I've gotten for the past five months is during Professor Donovan's classes!" Nemo exclaimed. "You seriously think I can just let it go after all that? I'm sure I can help out on finding a solution!"_

_ "I've gone over your records at Mintche, and I seriously doubt that. Besides, another student brought this up yesterday and I've accepted him into the program. He's clearly qualified to handle such a matter."_

Nemo ground his teeth. Another student... Charles of all people. Yesterday, even. Whereas he had been trying to reach Zeibel since the day he arrived in Luishka, not wasting time like the _other_ arrogant ass. Even when Shizel had tried to give him a voice of support, the Headmaster shrugged it off and didn't even look at the data he'd gathered.

_"Give me a chance!" Nemo insisted. "I've recently come up with a theory about-"_

_ "Theory after theory can be tossed around, what we need is evidence and a solution. I've wasted enough time on anything less." He interrupted. "Now if that's all, I have to be getting back to my research."_

"Proof, huh?" He muttered, crutching his way through the Academy gates. "Fine, he wants something solid, I'll get it, then smack him upside the head with it."


	17. Deporting

Nemo was panting by the time he arrived at his destination. Thankfully it was only a little farther than the one in Mintche, or he'd have collapsed before getting there. Making his way over to the little station at the entrance, a Celestian man with a bored expression glanced up at him.

"A student this time of year? That's a rarity." He mumbled to himself. "What do you need?"

"This is a port, isn't it? What do you think I need?" Nemo grumbled, trying to stay balanced. "How much to hire a ship?"

"Depends on where you're going and the kind of ship you need." He said with a shrug. "To Tinnisia it'll be about 150 gald a person. If you're on your way back to Inferia, probably about ten times that."

_Ten times? Damn, this is going to kill my savings._ Nemo thought with a sigh. "What about a small ship that can make it to Inferia but could be rented to go anywhere?"

The man raised an eyebrow at him. "Boy, I dunno what you've got in mind, but not many Captains would take on a job without a solid destination."

"I have a destination, I just don't know what it is."

"Right... I've heard better pranks than this, try thinking something else up and coming back tomorrow. I could use the entertainment."

Nemo scowled. "I'm serious, damn it! Where I want to go doesn't have a name, but I have to get there as soon as I can!"

"Walk there?" He suggested.

"Oh forget this... I'll ask the Captains myself." Nemo started to crutch his way off to the docks, when the man called out from his spot.

"Try the Gambit, the Captain of that just got back and she's been looking for a fare."

"Thanks."

xxx

Halfway down the docks, Nemo caught sight of a ship with Gambit written on the side. A familiar woman was on her way down the ramp, attention on the clipboard in her hand. "Yep, that's the inventory stocked up again..." She muttered, marking things off. "Now for-"

"Are you... the Captain of this ship?" Nemo asked as she stepped off the ramp.

She glanced at him, blinked, and promptly frowned. "What are you doing here?"

"I need to hire a ship. Is this one yours?"

"Yes it is, and no I'm not going to let _you_ of all people onboard. I don't need you blowing it up like you did the Van Eltia." She said, walking past him.

He struggled to turn without falling over. "Wait a second, Oriana! I don't even know if your junk heap is what I'm looking for!"

"Junk heap?" She snapped, rounding on him. "How dare you call Gambit a junk heap! This thing can make it to Inferia in a _day_ if it has to, and that's with a skeleton crew of three!"

"It only takes three people to run the thing?"

"Yep, and it can haul up to a dozen, plus cargo. Gambit's the furthest thing from a junk heap you can find in this port!"

"Interesting..." Nemo glanced at the ship, which was less than a quarter the size of the Van Eltia. "...how much to hire it?"

"For you, five thousand gald."

His eyes widened. "What?"

"Sorry, but since it's you, it's a special price."

"You're telling me that's cheaper than what you normally get?"

"I charge from three thousand up, depending on the people and cargo." She explained. "Since you're half the reason the Van Eltia is scrap metal, I figure you're the same as dangerous cargo."

Nemo glared at her, leaning more onto his crutch. "Please tell me this is your idea of a joke..."

"That's my price, take it or leave it."

"You know damn well a student wouldn't have that kind of money."

She shrugged, turning and walking off. "Not my fault you're a hazard to have onboard. Best of luck finding someone stupid enough to take you along."

"Not to mention won't try to rip me off." He grumbled, glancing from her to the ship. "A minimum of three thousand to charter something that small... there's no way I can afford anything bigger, so how the hell am I supposed to get there?"

The flashes of light that came from his robe didn't even make him flinch, since he was so used to it. Not to mention that had been who the question was directed at. A light weight dropped onto his shoulder, the streaks of red and white left his field of vision and Misty appeared not two feet from his face.

"You could try earning more funds." The water Craymel suggested. "As Luishka appears to be more than just a university town, you should have no trouble in a search for employment."

Nemo sighed. "No offense, Misty, but as smart as you might be, you've obviously never tried to get a job before. Besides, that would take weeks, if I want to one-up those jerks I've got to get that information now."

"Too bad I'm not bigger... I could just fly you out there myself." Breeze muttered from her spot on his shoulder.

"I'm not sure that would work too well even if you could."

"If that's all the stupid and deluded ideas, how about the obvious one?" Flare suggested.

Nemo glanced at where he was hovering with Wisp further down the dock. "What are you talking about?"

"The option that would solve your dilemma most efficently." Wisp agreed, before floating off with Flare.

He stared blankly at them for a moment, then understood what they were getting at. As crazy as it was, it's not like any other options were springing to mind.

xxx

"I would like to once again point out that you are listening to one of Flare's ideas." Misty repeated as Nemo stared down at the jumbled mess in front of him.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Flare snapped.

"That your plans tend to end with something blowing up or getting set on fire." Breeze muttered.

"Yes, or both." Misty added.

The flames on the fire Craymel's head rose with his temper. "Name one time BOTH happened!"

"How about the reason I'm now down a limb?" Nemo offered.

"In what way is that my fault?"

"You started the line of thinking when we were discussing my wanting to investigate Celestia firsthand." He said, glancing over his shoulder. "I believe 'Find a way to use Donovan, he wants you gone anyway' was about how you put it."

"Oh come on, you can't seriously blame me for what that turned into!"

"No, but you're not being any help right now and it's ticking me off! This was your idea, so help me figure out how to put it into action!" Nemo snapped, turning his attention back to the control panel of the Gambit. "It's a small wonder Oriana didn't lock the ship, and we don't know when she'll be back, so hurry up and find whatever switch turns the damn thing on!"

A girl's voice made him freeze. "Nemo, what the _hell_ do you think you're doing?"

Cursing under his breath, he slowly turned toward the speaker and her cohort. "What does it look like? I'm... borrowing Oriana's ship."

Fae scowled at him. "You mean stealing."

"Call it what you like." He said with a dismissive wave. "Stealing, hijacking, comandeering, taking for a joy ride. I don't care. Just keep in mind I have every intention of bringing it back."

"It doesn't even look like you were going to get it off the ground." Schimmel said plainly, examining one of the consoles.

"I'll fix that in a minute..."

"No you won't! I'm not going to stand here and let you take a ship!" Fae snapped, stomping up to him.

Nemo rolled his eyes. "You're only saying that because you can't see the big picture. Besides, I doubt you could stop me right now."

She glared at him for a moment, then kicked his crutch out from under him. He toppled onto the floor with a shout and she grinned. "Forget the ship, you can barely get _yourself_ off the ground."

"That's just fighting dirty." He grumbled, struggling to get back up. "Listen, I need to take this ship to prove a theory. If I can find that anamoly again and investigate it, I might be able to find a solution to the disaster Celestia is facing... not to mention tell Keele Zeibel where he can shove that smug attitude of his."

"Disaster? What are you talking about?" Fae wondered, pulling him up.

"It's a long story, one there's no time to chat leisurely about right now. If we can get this thing in the air, I'll tell you all about it."

"I don't-"

Fae's sentence was cut short as the ship jerked violently, making everyone aboard stumble. Grabbing Fae's arm as he started to fall again, all Nemo succeeded in doing was bringing her down to the floor right on top of him.

"Damn it, so much for you being balanced... or light." Nemo complained, thinking his remaining leg was going to be broken under Fae's weight.

"If you call me fat, I'll pitch you into the ocean." Fae said, glaring at him. "What the hell did you touch, Schimmel?"

"It wasn't me!" Schimmel said quickly, his voice muffled.

They looked over at him and saw he was on his knees, Aya behind him with her arms wrapped around his neck and mouth. "Running off on a ship? You're not getting away from me that easily!" She laughed. "Isn't that right, Zee?"

"You are quite persistant in anything you choose to pursue, there is no doubt in that. James has my sympathy." Shizel commented, working the control panel.

Fae gaped at the pair of them. "Where... when... what are you doing?"

"Taking off."

"You mean you know how to fly a ship like this?" Nemo asked, giving Fae a shove so she wasn't crushing him anymore.

"I have studied flight controls on a number of occasions, so yes. In theory." She explained.

"Well that... wait, WHAT?"

"Brace yourselves."

Shizel pressed something on the panel and the ship rocked twice as hard as the last time, sending everyone skidding across the floor. Nemo and Fae screamed, Schimmel let out a muffled cry, Aya shrieked in what sounded more like glee than fear and the ship tore off into the sky.


	18. Drift

"Oriana is going to be so mad." Fae murmured, staring out the window into the black, starlit abyss.

"From what I saw of her before, I don't think she's generally a happy person anyway." Nemo said, grabbing at his crutch which was slowly drifting away from him... or he was from it. It was kind of hard to tell. "Have you figured out what controls the gravity yet, Shizel?"

"If I had, we would be on the floor by now." She stated, looking down at the control panel. Her fingers hovered over various buttons, but so far she hadn't touched any, muttering to herself as she tried to figure out what each one did. "The controls are not the same as the pictures in my books."

"Hey, I'm not complaining. This is fun!" Aya laughed, flipping around in midair a few times before grabbing onto the side of a console to stop herself. She looked at Schimmel with a wide grin on her face. "Actually, I can think of something that might be _really_ fun like this. Care to find out with me, James?"

Schimmel was propelling himself through the air barely a second after she spoke, somehow moving with more grace than he ever had on his feet. He'd latched onto Nemo's arm and was using his friend as a shield before Aya even tried to go after him. "Not interested, sorry."

"Oh you're no fun at all... this is too unique of a chance to miss!" She pouted. "How about you, Nemo?"

"E-Excuse me?" Nemo stuttered.

"Well, you're not _that_ bad looking and this is probably a once in a lifetime thing. Besides, having only one leg couldn't slow you down that much in these conditions."

At that, it was Schimmel's turn to be used as a shield, then Nemo's again, then Schimmel's, until the pair of them were spinning like crazy just above the ground in some odd attempt to block each other from Aya's... friendliness.

"Figures, a time like this and the only two guys around are prudes." She muttered, frowning at their display before turning to her friend. "Zee?"

"Please leave me out of your strange ideas, Aya." She replied simply.

"Wha- I... no! Not that!" Aya said quickly, looking just as flustered as Schimmel and Nemo had. "I just wondered if you were having any luck figuring out what button might control the gravity!"

A beep came from the console as she pressed something. Shizel and Fae were the only ones to land on their feet. Since they had still been spinning, Schimmel hit the floor and Nemo landed on top of him, Aya dropped onto her rear nearby.

"I believe so." Shizel said, a hint of amusement in her voice.

"A little warning would be nice next time." Nemo groaned, straining to lift himself up. "You okay?"

"You just used me as a cushion... so I'm as well as you'd expect." Schimmel grumbled, rubbing his side where Nemo's elbow had dug in.

"Ohh... I see now." Aya said, getting their attention. She was staring at them, smirking. "That explains why you're not interested. Still, I could get into that, if you ever want to give it a shot."

Schimmel and Nemo looked from her, to each other, and hurriedly pulled themselves apart, stammering and protesting so much at the same time it was all but impossible to understand either of them. Especially not over Aya's laughter at their expressions.

They all fell silent when Fae suddenly yanked Nemo up by his collar, dragged him over to the Captain's chair and dropped him into it. After that she took two steps back, crossed her arms and stared at him. "Okay, talk."

"Uh... what about?" He wondered.

"What... what do you mean what about? You said you'd explain what was going through your head once this thing got moving!" She snapped.

"Did I?"

Fae nodded and Shizel glanced back over her shoulder. "Yes, you did." She agreed.

"It's a theory I've been working on for a while now." He said with a shrug. "I needed the ship to find proof so certain people just wouldn't brush me off. I tried hiring one, but Oriana was charging an arm and a leg, and I'm already down one of the latter."

"What theory?" Fae asked.

Nemo scratched his head. "Well, it's... you've heard of the Orbis Barrier, right?" Fae, Shizel and even Aya nodded. Schimmel just had a blank look on his face. Nemo sighed. "The Orbis Barrier is what kept Inferia and Celestia from smashing into each other when they were still connected. At least until the Grand Fall began and threatened life as everyone knew it. When your parents-" He gestured to Fae. "-and their allies took out your Grandmother-" He gestured to Shizel. "-the Orbis Barrier shattered, the Grand Fall was stopped and both worlds were saved. After that the worlds floated to where they are today."

Another round of nods and single blank stare.

"However, current evidence shows the Grand Fall wasn't just stopped... it was reversed. Once ships based on the Van Eltia's design were built on both Inferia and Celestia, it became clear to anyone paying attention that the time taken to get from one planet to the other increased each year. The worlds are slowly drifting further and further apart."

"So... pretty soon it'll take months to visit one from the other?" Schimmel asked. "That'll be a hassle to some people."

Nemo sighed again, rubbing his forehead. "Honestly, Schimmel... why Fae ever thought you could pass as a university student is beyond me."

"Hey, I'm trying!"

"Think, then! If they're moving, think about their positioning! Even you have to know about a simple concept like orbit!"

"I... know _of_ it. Inferia and Celestia orbit around the sun, but I don't really know the specifics of it." He thought for a moment, then blinked. "Wait, I heard they follow the same path... are you saying Celestia's moving faster than Inferia? If that's the case, is it going to eventally swing all the way around and crash into Inferia anyway?" He asked, starting to sound worried.

Nemo shook his head. "That was my first idea too, but my research concluded otherwise. There's no chance of that happening."

"Then what _is_ happening?" Fae asked.

"Celestia's orbit is... broken. It's drifting off on its own, away from the sun. The surface tempurature is already becoming colder than it used to be, plants are dying off in areas and the amount of monsters is dwindling because of it. Within a few years, Celestia will be nothing more than a dead, frozen planet."

Aya's face paled at this, but Shizel didn't move. She'd obviously known about it. Like her Father had said... he was aware of the problem. No doubt they'd been working on solutions together to some degree.

"W-What can we do to save Celestia?" Aya shouted, jumping to her feet.

Nemo shrugged. "At the moment, I don't know. Presumably Keele Zeibel and whatever people he gathered to help have something in mind. That'd be your area, Shizel."

Shizel's shoulders sagged a bit. "I... do not know if there are any other ideas aside from one."

Aya turned to her, hopeful. "Coming from your Dad, it has to be something genius!" Shizel's shoulders fell more and she lowered her head. Aya's hopeful expression disappeared. "Zee?"

"The only option he has come up with... is evacuation of the planet." She uttered.

"N-no way... they're going to let Celestia..." Aya trailed off, dropping back onto the floor and unable to finish her sentence.

"Wait, what about Inferia? The monster population has been running wild lately, does that mean Inferia's orbit is broken too?" Schimmel exclaimed.

"Actually, no. It should have starting drifting into the sun after Orbis went up, but Inferia's orbit is still stable, though I haven't been able to figure out why." Nemo muttered, frowning. "The monster boom is a mystery too. Even if Inferia was affected by the drift as well, the monster population would be decreasing like Celestia's, not increasing."

"Inferia's still safe... then the plan is to evacuate there?" Aya wondered, glancing at Shizel.

"It can't be." Fae interjected, crossing her arms. "Even if you could get everyone over there, there's simply no way Inferia could support Celestia's entire population."

Shizel nodded. "Fae is right. That is why a new ship is currently under construction. It is being designed to allow people to survive in space for long periods. Perhaps indefinately, if everything goes well. It would essencially be a city in a ship, able to carry a maximum of ten thousand, in theory."

"Wow..." Schimmel murmured.

"Celestian technology always has been impressive." Fae said quietly.

"Where in the world could you build something like that? How would you even get it off the ground?" Nemo wondered mostly to himself.

Aya looked far less impressed. "Only ten thousand? There are millions of people living on Celestia!" She snapped, back on her feet. "You said they were only working on one of these city-ships... I understand wanting a prototype, but will they be able to make enough before Celestia is an ice cube?"

Shizel turned what little of her face Aya could see away from her. "According to the current schedule and provided the first ship does not suffer too many setbacks, the estimate for ships to be completed before the Celestian Freeze... is five."


	19. Midway

"Five... ships..." Aya muttered. Five ships, room for a possible fifty thousand, out of a few million Celestians. "I can't believe this..."

"I have problems with it as well." Shizel stated. "That is why I am here. Hijacking a spaceship and chasing other options with this odd Inferian."

Nemo frowned at her back. "Hey, who're you calling odd?"

"You." She glanced back at him. "Even after finding out Inferia was in no danger, according to what I read, your efforts never slowed. My Father and the other Inferians working on our project live on Celestia. The people the Inferian ruler sent over to help was because he benefited greatly from our own technology. You had never set foot on Celestia before and from my understanding Mintche still almost exclusively uses Inferian technology, so you have not had any real view of our world aside from what you have heard. I can not understand your motivation, so unless you can explain why you seem to be so relentless, I will simply think you odd."

He blinked, shook his head and sat back. "Odd it is."

"You refuse to even try?"

"One explanation is enough for today. Try again some other time." He said with a dismissive wave before turning to Fae. "You know a bit about ships, right?"

Fae hesitated, taken off guard by the sudden question. "A bit, yes."

"Would you mind heading to the engine room and making sure everything's working okay then? Just as one explanation per day is enough, one exploding ship is enough to deal with in a year, if not a lifetime. I only have so many limbs, after all."

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, fine. I doubt I'll be able to do much if we run into problems though."

"Thanks. Shizel, you've got navigation covered, right?"

She nodded, focusing on th console in front of her. "What is our destination?"

"Just head toward Inferia for now."

Schimmel glanced around the bridge at a loss. "What should I do?"

Nemo gestured toward the passage leading to other areas of the ship. "There should be rooms somewhere for passengers. Find one, get comfortable and don't touch anything."

"Who put you in charge, anyway?" Fae asked, giving him an irritated look.

"You did, by putting me here." He patted the arm of the Captain's chair. "Not to mention it was my idea to borrow this thing in the first place. Just go with it, you can't always be the one coming up with crazy plans."

"Crazy's putting it lightly." She grumbled, walking off to find the engine room.

"Come on then, let's find a room!" Aya said, grabbing one of Schimmel's arms and dragging him deeper into the ship, ignoring his protests.

Once they were alone on the bridge, Shizel turned to Nemo and leaned back on the controls. "Do you honestly think we will find a clue there?"

He leaned on the arm of the chair, thinking. "Maybe. Has anyone else you know of gone to look?"

She shook her head. "I do not know. Although I am not told everything."

"We'll find out when we get there then. Besides, I know I saw _something_ out there, but whether not not it has anything to do with the drift..."

"With luck, we will find out soon enough."

xxx

Schimmel laid back on the bed, staring at the ceiling.

"Ohh, this is way too much to take in." Aya moaned.

"Don't have to tell me that." He agreed, shifting the pillow under his head. "Why try?"

"It's right in front of me now, I can't just ignore it." She replied stubbornly. "Especially not one this big."

Schimmel sat up and glanced over at Aya. She was leaning against the wall, eyes glued to the floor. "You have a thing for problem-solving?"

"You could say that... but Celestia being in this much danger... do you honestly expect me to not want to find a solution?"

"Can't argue with that. If it was Inferia, I'd probably be just as upset. Not that I'm glad it's happening to Celestia." He added quickly.

"I know what you meant." She assured him, sighing. "I just wish I knew what I could do about it. I mean, even though Zee's my best friend and one of the top students at Luishka, I'm... well..."

"Bottom of the proverbial barrel?"

"To put it bluntly in terms of my usual grades, yeah." She muttered, sliding down the wall into a sitting position and wrapping her arms around her legs. "That's why I never got the option to go to Inferia on the exchange. Only the top half of the students were even considered."

"You're not alone, Aya. Most of this stuff is way over my head too." He said, dropping back down. "Trying to tackle big stuff like this is just crazy. Give me small problems on a regular basis over a whopper like this any day."

"Right. Smaller problems." Aya rose and walked over to the side of Schimmel's bed, staring down at him. "You can help me with one of those right now."

"Uh... what sort of problem do you mean?" He asked nervously.

She leaned over him, frowning. "Who are you, really?"

"W-what do you mean? I'm..."

"Oh, don't give me any nonsense. I may not be that smart according to most people, but I'm also not stupid enough not to notice things. You're supposed to be James, some kind of child prodigy according to the file Mintche sent over. Yet you're about the same age as the rest of us, and I've heard both Nemo and Fae refer to you as Schimmel a few times now."

"That's... uh... wait a sec." He sat up again and she took a step back. "They showed you the files on the visiting Inferian students?"

Aya's face tinted red and she looked away. "Not exactly... I was curious, so I kind of... snuck into the file office and read through them. Honestly, none of them were too accurate from what I've seen. For example, Nemo's made him out to be much more of a jerk than he seems to be in the notes some Donovan guy sent over and Charles much less of one."

Schimmel rolled his eyes. "Donovan? No surprise there. That guy's the real jerk from what I hear."

"From what you hear."

He nodded. "Well... I only just started at Mintche before coming to Celestia, right?"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Donovan is James' Uncle. He'd know that beforehand. Just drop it already."

He sighed. "Oh, fine. I really don't care anyway. James is kind of a friend of ours, he didn't want to go but nobody selected could back out of it. The plan to have me go in his place was cooked up by Fae and Misty."

"Misty?"

"Nemo's lesser water Craymel. She acts all kind and knowledgable, but I swear there's a deceitful side hidden under there just waiting to come out." He mumbled.

"Okay... so your name is really Schimmel, and you're one of the lower-ranked students from Mintche?"

"Yes and no. I'm actually not even a student. I live alone not far from Mintche, Nemo and the others are just friends of mine."

Aya stared at him a moment, before walking around him and faceplanting into the pillow on the bed next to his. "Could this day get any more full of overly-complicated crap?" She wondered, her voice muffled.

He grinned "Well, it's only around noon. With Fae and Nemo around, I'd say there's a good chance of that."

"Don't forget Zee. She likes to cause problems herself." She pulled her face out of the pillow. "Trapped with a trifecta of troublemakers. We're doomed, aren't we Schimmel?"

"Without a doubt."


	20. Recurrence

"According to the readout, we are halfway between Inferia and Celestia." Shizel stated, going over the console.

Nemo nodded, staring out the window at the dark dots barely visible against the black of space. "Is this really what's left then?"

"There was not much data to go on, but what I know matches what I'm getting. What we are seeing is most likely the remnants of the Orbis Barrier." She tapped a few buttons and frowned. "I do not know what the cause is, but there something resonating from one of the larger fragments."

"Something?"

"The scanner is giving a scrambled readout for it. I can not tell what it is." She explained.

He considered for a moment. "Can you get us closer without crashing into anything? Maybe we can get a better idea if we can see it."

"I will try."

Silence filled the bridge as the two of them watched the piece of Orbis they were approaching for anything unusual. An odd feeling ran through Nemo's body, but he attributed it to excitement.

"Did you sense something just then?" Shizel asked, giving him second thoughts about the cause.

The intercom beeped and Aya's voice blared out of it with a loud screaming in the background. "Zee! Fae! Somebody! Get down here right now! Schimmel's... I don't know what's wrong with him!"

Another channel opened halfway through Aya's outburst, Fae's voice shouting over hers. "Something's gone wrong down here! A part of the engine just crumbled!"

Shizel tapped a couple buttons on the console to stop the ship and Nemo stood up to go try to help the others. The Gambit shook, a panel on the bridge exploded in a shower of sparks and shrapnel and the view out the main window was nothing but a blur as the ship began spinning.

Nemo laid on the floor, arms covering his head. "What's going on?"

"I do not know!" Shizel cried back.

He glanced up and saw her hitting buttons in a panic. Struggling to stand without his crutch, which was burning on the other side of the bridge, he grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the panel, trying to get both of them out of there. She started to object, but the console she had been working at exploded when they were almost at the door and she promptly fell silent. They were going down the main hall of the Gambit when Aya emerged from one of the rooms, Schimmel hanging limply over her shoulder.

"What happened to him?" Nemo asked quickly.

Aya shook her head. "I don't know, he just started screaming, passed out and then everything started shaking! What are we supposed to do now?"

"E-Escape pods." Shizel muttered, her voice shaking. "Should be four of them further back."

"Good, let's get moving then." Aya hurried ahead, having no trouble carrying the unconscious swordsman slung over her shoulder. By the time Nemo and Shizel had caught up, Aya had already loaded Schimmel into one of the pods.

Taking a moment to look over the controls outside the door, Shizel nodded. "It will take you back to Celestia once launched, and should land near Tinnisia. Launching triggers are here and that lever just inside."

"Good, make sure that idiot doesn't die on me." Nemo said, giving Aya a rough shove into the pod and hitting the switch. The pod door slid shut behind her and it ejected from the ship.

"What did you-" Shizel began, but was quickly interrupted.

"No time for chatter, move. Get to the engine room and make sure Fae's okay. She should have gotten here by now. I'll wait here for you." She frowned at him, but nodded and ran down the corridor. Once she was out of view, there was a series of flashes and his lesser Craymels appeared. "Did you get anything?" He inquired.

"Some kind of power was surrounding the fragment of Orbis, it is what probably damaged the ship." Misty stated calmly.

"Yes, but could it be causing the drift?"

"Impossible to tell for certain, but I am doubtful. Something so far out could not affect Celestia in such a way."

"Damn, so it was a waste of time?"

"I wouldn't say that."

He looked at her, hopeful. "You have an idea?"

"Whatever is generating the field that damaged the ship is very powerful. If we could get to the origin, we may find a device to counter or at least cease the drift." She explained.

"Okay, that's something. Just have to get another ship and figure out a way past the field."

"Easier said than done." Flare muttered.

"The flows outside are random and unpredictable. One encircles the entire part of Orbis as well." Breeze said. "Evading them would be impossible."

"Forcing our way in would end badly as well." Wisp put in.

"Maybe." Nemo murmured.

They glanced at him. "You are not thinking of making a foolish run at the fragment, are you?" Misty asked.

"Maybe." He repeated, smirking. "Of course if this crazy plan I'm cooking up going to be put into action, we need to get off this ship. Where the hell are Shizel and Fae? They should have gotten back by now..."

xxx

Aya cursed loudly as the Gambit faded into the distance, swearing she was going to belt Nemo next time she saw him. Leaning back into her seat and growing quiet, she glanced at Schimmel. His face was pale and sweaty, but at least he didn't seem to be in any pain. In the room, he'd suddenly clutched his stomach and started thrashing around on the floor, screaming as if something was tearing him apart from the inside out.

Schimmel slowly opened his eyes, looking around the small pod without turning his head. "What... happened?" He asked weakly.

"I was hoping you could tell me. Are you feeling better now?" She asked.

"Sort of. Doesn't feel like someone's twisting a knife in my guts anymore, so that's a relief." He sat up, taking a few shaky breaths. "Where are we?"

"An escape pod. Something nailed the Gambit hard about the same time you collapsed."

"Are the others okay?"

Aya lowered her head. "I... don't know. Nemo and Zee were at the pods. The former being the jerk that just shoved me in and fired us off. Didn't see Fae."

"Fae... she'll be alright. She's tough." He muttered. "I'm really starting to dislike ships, though. Only been on two in my life and they've both been destroyed."

"I blame Nemo. He's bad luck."

Schimmel chuckled. "I've known the guy for years. You don't have to tell me that."

"At least I'm not a perpetual klutz." Nemo said, getting their attention. His face had appeared on a monitor by the pod's hatch.

He grinned at the monitor. "Eavesdropping now? Well, you did steal a ship, so I suppose little things like that wouldn't bother you."

"If you're making cracks like that, you must be fine." Nemo replied, glancing to the side. "Just wanted to let you know Shizel and I are safe and right behind you, but if you lovebirds need some privacy I'd be happy to close the channel."

Schimmel frowned at the comment, but he attention was focused on something absent from it. "You and Shizel? What about Fae?"

"Oh... er... you see-" Nemo and Shizel's faces cut to static for a second and that of a stern Celestian man replaced them.

"I am Commander Shultzwald of the Celestian Defense Force, Fifth Divison. You are all under arrest. Once your pods are recovered, surrender without resistance or you will be executed on the spot. You have been warned." The image cut to black.

"What the..." Schimmel muttered. "...I know we're technically shipjackers, but that seems a bit extreme."

Aya's face had gone as pale as Schimmel's had been. "Did he say... Shultzwald of the Fifth Division?"

"Uh... I think so. Why?"

"He's known for being ruthless when dealing with criminals... and the Fifth Division... why are they here? The Fourth covers things like ship thefts."

"What does the Fifth usually deal with?"

"They're a fairly new division... made to deal with people that are a threat to Celestia on a large scale." She mumbled. "Put simply, terrorists."


	21. Charged

"Two ships destroyed, you and your friend being passengers on the first and stealing the second. Know that that tells me, boy?" Shultzwald asked, pacing in the small room.

Nemo, sitting across from him at a small table, shrugged. "I think Oriana had it right, I'm dangerous cargo. Cursed or something."

"Oh, you're dangerous, I'll give you that. I never expected to find members so young, but I'll be damned if you and that other Inferian don't set off some warning bells." The Commander growled, still pacing.

"Members...? What are you on about?" He wondered. "I'm just a student."

Shultzwald rounded on him. "Don't give me that! That other Inferian isn't even a student, yet you're working with him! You're both agents, aren't you?"

Nemo just stared blankly at the man. They'd found out about Schimmel, he'd expected that, but this sort of reaction... what in the world was happening on Celestia? "Agents of what, exactly?"

"Balista."

He waited, but no more explanation seemed to be coming. " You're going to have to give me more than that to know what you're prattling on about."

"Stop feigning ignorance!"

"Stop being vague."

The Commander slammed his fist on the table. "Maybe you can answer this... when you left Celestia, we'd heard five of you had been seen in the area. Where is the fifth member of your team?"

Nemo glared at him. "You've examined the wreckage of the Gambit by now, right?"

"Yes. It's halfway to a pile of scrap, thanks to you. Not as bad as the Van Eltia, thankfully, but still more than I expected of a handful of agents."

"Fae, our fifth as you put it, was in the engine room. What do you _think_ happened to her?"

Shultzwald frowned. "I see. Saves us some trouble, if you're telling the truth."

"Okay, I told you something, now you tell me. What's Balista?"

"If you're going to continue to deny it, maybe your allies will be more willing to cooperate." He replied, walking out of the room and slamming the door behind him.

"I really don't like that guy." Nemo grumbled, glancing around the room. Aside from the door, table, chair and a small air vent on the ceiling, it was pretty much a steel box. They'd taken his Craymel Cage, so breaking out with a well-placed photon on the lock wasn't an option either. He'd just have to wait and see what happened.

xxx

Schimmel leaned against the bars of his cell, peering at Aya, who was sitting in the corner of the one across from him. "Did you understand anything that guy was talking about?"

Aya shook her head. "Not really. He kept mentioning something called Balista, calling me an agent and traitor. I've never even heard of them."

"Yeah, I got that too... except for the traitor bit."

"Some kind of Inferian group against Celestia?" She guessed.

"Could be." He glanced over his shoulder at Nemo, who was leaning against the back wall and obviously lost in thought about something. "What do you think?"

"Possible." He muttered absent-mindedly.

The door to the brig opened and Shultzwald strode inside, Shizel following behind him. "Well then, it looks like Shadowgate Prison is getting some newcomers." He announced with a grin.

"W-What?" Aya exclaimed. "You can't... you can't just..."

Schimmel cut in. "Hey, I don't know much about Celestia, but don't you people have fair trials before saying you're going to pitch people in jail?"

"There is no need for such formalities when dealing with scum." The Commander growled, glaring at him. "Your actions are evidence enough to put you away. You three had best accept it now."

"Three?" Aya mumbled. "What... Zee, what does he mean?"

Shizel faced the floor, her face obscured by her long purple hair. "Did you honestly know James was not James?"

"Well... yeah, I kind of found out by accident, but-"

"Yet you failed to mention such a thing to the school. There is no telling what sort of person he truely is. You put everyone at risk withholding such information."

"Zee, I didn't-"

Nemo approached the front of his cell. "Shizel, are you really buying what this overzealous lunatic says?"

In a blur Shizel had reached through the bars, grabbed Nemo by the collar of his robe and jerked him forward. "I believed you. I trusted you. Then you betrayed me. No, you were never my friend to begin with, were you? Such an act is difficult to believe, is it not?" With a shove, Nemo fell back, landing on his rear as Shizel turned away.

"Don't worry, you're safe now. We'll have you home right after we get these criminals properly locked away." Shultzwald told her.

"Yes. Thank you, Commander." Shizel mumbled.

"Show Miss Zeibel to her quarters for the trip." He ordered. One of the guards nodded and led Shizel out of the brig. He smirked at his prisoners again. "Relax while you can. Shadowgate is a rough place, you'll need all the energy you can muster if you even want to survive a week there." He said, before following Shizel and the guard out.

Schimmel and Aya stared after them in silence. The remaining guard in the room sat at a solitary desk by the entrance and began shuffling through some paperwork. Nemo stayed on the floor a few seconds before starting to chuckle quietly, earning him an odd look from his fellow prisoners.

"What in the world can you find funny about this situation?" Schimmel wondered.

"The name... never thought about it before. Shizel Zeibel." He said, still giggling like a fool. They both gave him an annoyed look before taking a seat in the back of their respective cells.

"So what now?" Aya asked.

"We wait to get thrown in jail, apparently." Schimmel muttered. "Unless you've got some sort of escape plan."

"No. There are too many to punch through even if I could get out of this cell." She replied.

They sat quietly for a few minutes longer before Nemo grabbed onto the bars and pulled himself off the floor. "That's enough." He said, looking out at the guard. "Hey you, if I told your boss something I know, would he be willing to deal?"

The guard shrugged. "Depends on what you know."

"I could run a couple things by you and you could give me an outside opinion on how useful they'd be."

"You can try." He said with disinterest.

"Well, I'm not going to just yell secrets across the room."

With an irritated sigh, the guard got up and walked in front of the cell, keeping just out of arm's reach. "This better be good."

"Well, there is one important thing you should know."

"What's that?"

"This is going to hurt." A streak of purple flashed from Nemo, straight through the guard's chest. He slammed back into the bars of the opposite cell, slumped onto the ground and convulsed a few times before going limp. "A lot, by the look of it. Aya, get his key and open the cells."

Aya, who had been watching in shock, snapped out of it at the mention of her name. "How the hell did you do that?"

Nemo smirked, holding up a Craymel Cage. "Shizel said it herself. 'Such an act is difficult to believe, is it not?' She dropped this into my robe when she grabbed me. Now if that's all the questions we have to find her and a way out of here while we have the chance."

"Where are we supposed to go?" Schimmel asked. "In case you've forgotten, we're in space."

"This thing has escape pods like the Gambit, I'm sure. We can use one of them again."

"Oh yeah, that's brilliant." Aya grumbled sarcastically, pulling the brig keys off the guard's belt. "They'll just catch us again, no pod can outfly a ship."

"You're forgetting I'm a ship hazard. I've played a part in scrapping the Van Eltia and the Gambit without even trying." A grin crossed his face as Aya unlocked her cell and moved to let them out as well. "Let's see how much damage I can do when I actually put some effort into it."


End file.
